Fairchild
 
PT-19 Cornell
Photo: Robert Deering 10/28/2016
Dallas Executive Airport (RBD)
Dallas, Texas
Fairchild was an aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas.
PHOTOS      
Commercial Aircraft General Aviation      

Fairchild - Swearingen
Metroliner

Model 24
     
Military Aircraft        

PT-19
Cornell

PT-26
Cornell
  

C-119
Flying Boxcar

C-123
Provider

XSM-73
Bull Goose

A-10
Thuderbolt II
       

HISTORY

The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 1924 as Fairchild Aviation Corporation, based in Farmingdale, and East Farmingdale, New York. It was established as the parent company for Fairchild's many aviation interests. The company produced the first US aircraft to include a fully enclosed cockpit and hydraulic landing gear, the Fairchild FC-1. At some point they were also known as the Fairchild Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. of Longueuil, Quebec, Canada was an aircraft manufacturer in the period 1920-1950. It served as a subsidiary of the Fairchild company of the United States. The Fairchild Engine company was formed with the purchase of the Caminez Engine Company in 1925.  In 1929 Sherman Fairchild purchased a majority stock interest in Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company of Hagerstown, Maryland. Fairchild moved to Hagerstown in 1931.

Besides designing and building aircraft, Fairchild pioneered the commercial use of aerial photography. Many of its first aircraft like the Fairchild FC-2 were originally designed for that purpose, because the cameras of those days were extremely heavy and required flying steady at a high altitude for that era.  In 1935 Fairchild was hired by the US government to do aerial photograph surveys of the United States to track soil erosion and its effects.

A Fairchild aircraft, the Virginia, was taken as one of three aircraft by Richard E. Byrd on his 1928–1929 expedition to the South Pole. It was used for test flights and reconnaissance.

World War II

Among its activities during World War II was producing PT-19/PT-23/PT-26 (Cornell) and AT-21 trainers, C-82 Packet cargo planes and missiles. The Fairchild AT-21 Gunner, a twin-engine trainer, was manufactured at a former rayon mill in Burlington, North Carolina. Also large numbers of the Fairchild Type 24 (C-61) were produced for the military (principally the Fairchild Argus for the Royal Air Force) and postwar, the civilian market.

Postwar

The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was a US military transport aircraft developed from the World War II C-82 Packet. The C-119 was designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients and mechanized equipment with the ability to make "paradrops" of cargo and troops. The first C-119 made its initial flight in November 1947, and by the time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,100 C-119s had been built for use in the USAF and other air forces including the Royal Canadian Air Force. After its retirement from military service, the flexibility and ruggedness of the C-119 made it ideal to convert as a waterbomber.

In 1949, the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation (based in Hagerstown, Maryland) started work on the C-123 Provider, the transport officially entering service in 1955. In 1954 Fairchild purchased the American Helicopter Company, incorporating it and the XH-26 Jet Jeep as a division.  In 1956, the company acquired rights to the Fokker Friendships, producing 206 of the aircraft as the Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227. During the 1950s, Fairchild was a large subcontractor to Boeing for B-52 fuselage sections and wing panels. Later they would build F-4 Phantom tail sections, F-14 Tomcat tails, and Space Shuttle stabilizers

Their association with Boeing would continue into the 1980s building wing controls surfaces for 747s and 757s. In 1964, the company purchased Hiller Aircraft, changing its name to Fairchild Hiller and producing the FH-1100, until 1973 when the helicopter division was sold back to Stanley Hiller. In 1965, the company acquired the Republic Aviation Company.

Following the death of its founder, Fairchild changed its name to Fairchild Industries in 1971, before purchasing Swearingen and manufacturing the Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, a successful commuter aircraft (with US military designations C-26 Metroliner and UC-26 Metroliner). During 1971 and 1972, the company developed what would become the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog", prevailing over rival Northrop YA-9.

The company developed the T-46 jet trainer to replace the elderly T-37 Tweet trainer, but it was not accepted by the Air Force because of performance problems.

In 1984, aircraft production ceased in Hagerstown, Maryland.

After the company's takeover of Dornier's civil assets in 1996, the company was renamed Fairchild Dornier. The company commenced production of the Dornier 328 in 1998 under license from Daimler Benz Aerospace.

In December 1999, Fairchild Aerospace Corporation was acquired by German insurer Allianz A.G. and the United States investment group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. for $1.2 billion.

In 2003, the assets of Fairchild were purchased by M7 Aerospace and the new company was relocated to San Antonio. M7 Aerospace does not manufacture aircraft, but focuses on aerospace parts and support services.

On December 15, 2010, M7 was purchased by the United States subsidiary of the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems.

Source: Wikipedia 


AIRCRAFT      
Fairchild FC-1 1926   Four passenger cabin monoplane
Fairchild FC-2 1926   Four passenger cabin monoplane
Fairchild 71 1926   Eight passenger cabin monoplane
Fairchild 42 1927   Three passenger cabin monoplane
Fairchild 21 1927   Two-seat touring low-wing monoplane
Fairchild KR-34 1928   Two-seat biplane
Fairchild 100 1930   Nine passenger airliner
Fairchild 22 1931   Two-seat parasol monoplane
Fairchild 24 1932   Four passenger cabin monoplane
Fairchild 91 1935   Flying-boat airliner
Fairchild Model 45 1935   Cabin monoplane
Fairchild F-46 1937   Cabin monoplane
Fairchild PT-19 1939   Trainer
Fairchild PT-26 1942   Trainer developed from the PT-19
Fairchild AT-21 Gunner 1943   Trainer
Fairchild BQ-3 1944   Assault Drone
Fairchild C-82 Packet 1944   Military transport
Fairchild M-84 1945   Four-Five place family aircraft
Fairchilld SAM-N-2 Lark 1946   Surface to Air Missle
Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar 1947   Military transport
Fairchild XNQ 1949   Trainer
Fairchild C-123 Provider 1949   Military transport
Fairchild XC-120 Packplane 1950   Military transport
Fairchild AUM-N-2 Petrel 1956   Anti-Ship Missile
Fairchild XSM-73 Bull Goose 1957   Cruise Missle (Cancelled)
Fairchild Hiller F-27 1958   Turboprop commuter airliner developed from the Fokker F-27
Fairchild VZ-5 1959   Experimental VTOL
Fairchild SD-5 Osprey 1960   Reconnaissance drone developed from the XSM-73
Fairchild 228 1968   Regional jet airliner
Fairchild-Swearingen Merlin 1965   Turboprop corporate
Fairchild FH-227 1966   Turboprop airliner developed from the Fokker F-27
Fairchild-Hiller FH-1100 1966   Turbine helicopter
Fairchild AC-119 1968   Ground-attack conversion of C-119
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner/C-26 1968   Turboprop airliner
Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker 1971   Counter-insurgency aircraft
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II 1972   Close air support
Fairchild T-46 1985   Trainer
Fairchild-Dornier 328JET 1991   Commuter jet
Fairchild-Dornier 428JET 2001   Cancelled regional jet
Fairchild-Dornier 728JET 2002   Prototype commuter jet