Fletcher Aviation

The initial aim of the company was to produce a wooden basic trainer aircraft (the FBT-2) that Wendell had designed, but despite brief interest by the Army in the type to use as a target drone, nothing came of this aircraft. After relocating to Rosemead, California, later projects involved a family of related designs, including the FU-24 agricultural aircraft of which 296 were produced in New Zealand with many still operating today.Parker, Dana T. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, p. 121, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.

During the Korean War the company purchased Rosemead Airport from Bob and Jack Heasley.{{cite web|url=http://www.bannerbob.net/Rosemead.htm|title=Rosemead Airport|publisher=Bob Cannon |date=2010-03-23|accessdate=2012-08-23}} The roughly triangular property is located south of the 10 freeway, although the airport pre-dates the freeway. The property extended from Rosemead Boulevard on the west to the Rio Hondo river basin on the south and east.{{cite web|url=https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_LA_E.htm|title=Western Air College Airport / Rosemead Airport / Fletcher Airport, Rosemead, CA|publisher=Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields by Paul Freeman |date=2012-03-10|access-date=2012-08-23}}

In 1953, the same year the FU-24 debuted, they also produced a prototype amphibious vehicle known as the Fletcher Flair.{{cite web|url=http://atomictoasters.com/2011/11/the-fletcher-flair-a-crazy-floating-porsche-jeep-thing/|title=The Fletcher Flair: A Crazy Floating Porsche Jeep Thing|publisher=atomictoasters.com|date=2011-11-21|accessdate=2012-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104202545/http://atomictoasters.com/2011/11/the-fletcher-flair-a-crazy-floating-porsche-jeep-thing/|archive-date=2013-11-04|url-status=usurped}} The vehicle was powered by a 4-cylinder Porsche 356 drivetrain, modified to make it a four-wheel drive. The company hoped to sell the vehicle to the US Army but the vehicle performed poorly in the water and the Army passed.{{cite web|url=http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/09/26/fletcher-flair-a-porsche-designed-for-paddling/|title=Fletcher Flair – a Porsche designed for paddling|website=Hemmings Blog |date= 2011-09-26|accessdate=2012-08-23|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506222525/http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/09/26/fletcher-flair-a-porsche-designed-for-paddling/|archive-date=6 May 2016}}

Purchased by AJ Industries, it changed its name to Flair Aviation in 1960, and produced aircraft fuelling equipment, including drop tanks and hose reels for inflight refuelling. Moved to El Monte, California, its name was changed back to Fletcher and then Sargent Fletcher in 1964 before abandoning aircraft manufacturing in 1966, with rights to the FU-24 going to Pacific Aerospace. Sargent Fletcher was purchased by Cobham plc in 1994.

For the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, Huschke von Hanstein, Press Officer and Racing Director at Porsche, presented Hans Herrmann's Porsche 550 Spyder with a very special decoration with sponsorships that would change, until today, the history of sports sponsorship. Fletcher Aviation was a principal one.

File:Porsche 550-1500 RS Spyder Carrera Panamericana 1954 frontleft 2009-03-14 A.JPG

File:Jaroslav's Book Original Google-94.jpg

{{Reflist}}

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• {{cite book |last= Gunston |first= Bill |title=World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers |year=1993 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location= Annapolis |pages=118 }}

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• [http://www.aerofiles.com/_f.html aerofiles.com]

{{Fletcher aircraft}}

Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States

Category:Companies based in Los Angeles County, California

Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1941