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Red Grandy ©Stars and StripesHeidelberg, West Germany, June, 1977: Water from the edge of the runway is drawn in a vortex into the engine intake of a prototype YC-14 AMST (Advanced Medium Short Takeoff and Landing Transport) — a would-be successor to the C-130 Hercules — during a demonstration at Heidelberg Army Airfield. Despite the dramatic suction effect being recorded here by photographers, pilots said the intake had never picked up solid materials such as stones. Neither Boeing's YC-14 nor McDonnell Douglas' competing YC-15 ever went into full production, mainly because of rising costs and questions about cost-effectiveness.

RELATED MATERIAL: Stars and Stripes' June 9, 1977 story about the YC-14.