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
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