The second and final YC15 built as an experimental STOL pure jet transport on its take off roll for a demonstration at the 1976 Farnborough Airshow. Whilst never put into production this design lead to the development of the much larger C-17

Initially preserved in its original USAF markings as 72-1875 at Pima since 1981, but restored to flying condition for use as a testbed in 1996. Registered as N15YC to the United States Government (c/o McDonnell Douglas Corp) on 1 Apr 1977, and first flown for the C-17 development program on 11 Apr 1997. Last flight 11 Jul 1998, and stored at Palmdale. Moved to Edwards AFB in 2008 and now preserved at (the publicly accessible) Century Circle adjacent to the West Gate at Edwards.

The second YC-15 made an appearance at Farnborough in 1976 but went into storage at DM a couple of months prior to the date of this photo and has been there ever since

The YC-15 was the McDonnell Douglas entry against the Boeing YC-14 in the Advanced Medium STOL Transport (AMST) competition. This, the first of two, made her maiden flight on 28.8.75 and was later used as a CFM-56 engine test-bed. Registered as N15YC 4.97; moved from Palmdale to Edwards AFB in 4.08 and now displayed near the west gate (Rosamond) in the Century Circle. Although neither design was adopted, McDonnell Douglas later of course went on to develop the successful C-17 Globemaster III