Created by Fairchild Hiller to sell the Turbo Porter aircraft, this industrial film gives a great overview of the plane and shows it in various roles including as a military platform. The Pilatus PC6 Porter is a singleengined Short TakeOff and Landing (STOL) utility aircraft designed by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. First flown in 1959, the PC6 continues in production at Pilatus Flugzeugwerke in Stans, Switzerland. It has been built in both piston engine and turboprop powered versions and was produced for a time by Fairchild Hiller in the United States
The first prototype made its maiden flight on 4 May 1959 powered by a 254 kW (340 shp) piston engine. The first Turbo Porter, powered by a turboprop, flew in 1961. The Turbo Porter received an engine upgrade in 1963, which increased its power to its present value of 410 kW (550 shp).
The Porter was also manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States during the early 1970s for operations during the Vietnam War. It was also used extensively by the CIA for clandestine operations in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It received the designation AU23A Peacemaker for service with the U.S. Air Force and UV20 Chiricahua for service with the U.S. Army. The Peacemaker was fitted with a sidefiring 20mm XM197 Gatling cannon, four wing pylons and a centre fuselage station for external ordnance, but proved to be troublesome in service; all aircraft were returned to the U.S. for storage after one year of operations.
The PC6 is noted for its Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) performance on almost any type of terrain it can take off within a distance of 640 feet (195 m) and land within a distance of 427 feet (130 m) while carrying a payload of 2,646 lbs (1,200 kg). Thanks to its STOL performance, the PC6 holds the world record for highest landing by a fixedwing aircraft, at 18,865 feet (5,750 m), on the Dhaulagiri glacier in Nepal.
Due to these characteristics, they are frequently used to access short grass mountaintop airstrips in the highlands of Papua Province (Indonesia) and Papua New Guinea.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2K. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com