Fairchild 24W
Words of Recognition
I had no idea I wanted a Fairchild 24 until I saw one advertised on Barnstormers. I was looking for an enclosed cabin tail dragger to fly when it got cold in Oklahoma City and spotted this among the Waco cabins, Aeroncas, Cessna spam cans and others. It looked cool though a bit odd. As I did my research I found that its Continental W670 radial tank engine (widely used during the war to power Sherman tanks) wasn’t original equipment. Neither was the UC 78 cowl sources from a derelict Cessna Bamboo Bomber. But it was freshly restored (40 hours SMOH and restoration of the airframe) and the price seemed “reasonable”.
As I did my research I found that the Fairchild 24 series was an invention of necessity and survival in the depression for Fairchild which turned into the happy accident of a really wonderful plane picked up by the military so scads were made. The basic plane came with some version of a Warner radial (90, 110, 125 or 165 horsepower) or an upside down, inline Ranger (125, 145, 165, 175 or 200 horsepower) with a couple of oddball Menasco 125’s thrown in. The UC 61 “Argus” was the most made, because of the military, and the least attractive (in my opinion) with its long Pinocchio nose. An early 1930’s design it was obsolete by the time my postwar model was made Fairchild just didn’t know it yet. My plane powered by the tank engine looks as odd in its way as the Argus with a giant, bulbous nose, so I call it “Jimmy Durante”.
I’ll leave a lot of the details to the PIREP I’ve written about it HERE but let me just say it’s a wonderful plane. It’s stable as a card table on a yacht in slowly rolling seas. It’s a comfortable as an armchair. It’s leisurely in everything it does and it doesn’t demand, but allows, a gentleman’s touch with the stick and rudders. You sit so far away from the panel you have to have long arms or loose shoulder harnesses to adjust anything. With real glass roll down windows its more like an antique car than airplane though the puddle of oil beneath the radial will remind you.
My airplane was restored by a meticulous guy for his own use. Just look at the turnings on the inter cylinder baffles for example. The interior is beautifully made but incomplete. One of these days I need to finish the rear bulkheads. The paint is outstanding and the engine, which looks a bit odd with its missing aviation wire harness is well restored. The plane does everything at its leisure from “levitating” when ready to fly to “settling” on the runway when it’s finished. It doesn’t really stall in the traditional sense it just starts losing altitude slowly. It lands with comfort on its massive, over built gear and if you screw up its so strong it bails you out like your funny uncle Dave who spends too much time in the gym. It is trim sensitive so it will behave oddly if you don’t spin the antique car window crank on the ceiling enough in the right direction.
It looks funny. It’s not a biplane. But I love it!
