Fletcher FD-25
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
|name=FD-25 Defender |image=Fletcher FD-25B Defender.jpg |caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type |type=Counterinsurgency aircraft |manufacturer=Fletcher |designer=John Thorp |first flight=1953 |introduced= |retired= |status= |primary user= Royal Cambodian Air Force |more users= Republic of Vietnam Air Force |produced= |number built=13 |variants with their own articles= }} |
The Fletcher FD-25 Defender was a light ground-attack aircraft developed in the United States in the early 1950s.
Design and development
Designed by John Thorp, the Defender was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Provision was made for two machine guns in the wings, plus disposable stores carried on underwing pylons. Construction throughout was all-metal, and the pilot sat under a wide perspex canopy.
Operational history
Three prototypes were built, two single-seaters and a two-seater, but no orders were placed by the US military. In Japan, however, Toyo acquired the rights to the design, and built around a dozen aircraft, selling seven (five single-seater attack versions and two two-seat trainers) to Cambodia,Grandolini 1988, p. 39. and four to Vietnam. One example (FD-25B JA3051){{Cite web |url=http://dansa.minim.ne.jp/a3723FujisawaToyoAC.htm |title=東洋航空工業株式会社、藤沢海軍航空隊の燃料庫庫 |access-date=2020-02-16 |archive-date=2020-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216091917/http://dansa.minim.ne.jp/a3723FujisawaToyoAC.htm |url-status=dead }} served with the Royal Thai Police.
Survivors
One example (FD-25B N240D) remains in an airworthy condition today and appeared at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow in 2010. Two (a single-seater{{Cite web|url=https://flyteam.jp/photo/1745541/L|title = 東洋航空工業 JA3092 東京都立産業技術高等専門学校 航空フォト | by VICTER8929さん 撮影2015年12月17日}} and a two-seater{{Cite web|url=https://flyteam.jp/photo/753101/L|title=東洋航空工業 - 東京都立産業技術高等専門学校 航空フォト | by kanade/Ryo@S.O.R.A.さん 撮影2013年03月25日}}) are on museum display at the Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology in Japan.
Related development
The wing design of the Fletcher FU-24 aerial topdressing plane was loosely based on that of the FD-25 Defender.{{cite news |last1=Deerness |first1=Ray |title=The Fletcher Is Fifty |url=http://www.ahsnz.org.nz/content/fletcher-fifty |accessdate=5 February 2022 |work=Pacific Wings |issue=September 2004}} Almost 300 were built under licence in New Zealand from the mid-1950s and used for agricultural and skydiving operations.{{cite news |last1=Neal |first1=Tracy |title=Fletcher operators defend aircraft |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/4640889/Fletcher-operators-defend-aircraft |accessdate=29 January 2019 |work=Stuff |date=10 February 2011}}
Specifications
File:Fletcher N91316 fullerton 060271-1-.jpg, California, in 1971]]
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1955–56Bridgman 1955, p. 260.
|prime units?=imp
|genhide=
|crew=1
|capacity=
|length m=
|length ft=20
|length in=11
|length note=
|span m=
|span ft=30
|span in=0
|span note=
|height m=
|height ft=6
|height in=3
|height note=
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=150
|wing area note=
|swept area sqm=
|swept area sqft=
|swept area note=
|volume m3=
|volume ft3=
|volume note=
|aspect ratio=6:1
|airfoil=NACA 65.5-415
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=1228
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=2500
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity={{convert|60|USgal|impgal L|abbr=on}}
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Continental E-225-8
|eng1 type=6-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally-opposed pistonengine
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=225
|prop blade number=
|prop name=
|prop dia m=
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|prop dia note=
|rot number=
|rot dia m=
|rot dia ft=
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|rot area sqm=
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|rot area note=
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=187
|max speed kts=
|max speed note=at sea level
|max speed mach=
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=162
|cruise speed kts=
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed mph=
|stall speed kts=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed kmh=
|minimum control speed mph=
|minimum control speed kts=
|minimum control speed note=
|range km=
|range miles=630
|range nmi=
|range note=
|endurance=
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=16500
|ceiling note=
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|glide ratio=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=1725
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=
|more performance=
|guns=2 × wing-mounted .30-in (7.62 mm) machine guns
|bombs= 2 × 250 lb (113 kg) bombs
|rockets=
- 40 × 2.75 inch rockets or
- 4 × 5-inch rockets or
- 20 × 8 cm rockets
|missiles=
|hardpoints=
|hardpoint capacity=
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|avionics=
}}
See also
{{aircontent
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References
Notes
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
- Bridgeman, Leonard (ed.). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1955–56. New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
- Grandolini, Albert. "L'Aviation Royale Khmere: The first 15 years of Cambodian military aviation". Air Enthusiast (Bromley, UK: Fine Scroll) (Thirty-seven, September–December 1988): pp. 39–47. ISSN 0143-5450.
- Taylor, Michael J. H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. 1989. p. 393. {{ISBN|0-517-69186-8}}.
- World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing, 1985, pp. File 894 Sheet 25.
{{Refend}}
External links
{{commons category|Fletcher FD-25}}
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=diEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+1951+Flivver+PLane&pg=RA1-PA2 Flivver Plane Totes Guns and Bombs] November 1951 Popular Science article on FL-25—rest of article and photos on following page
{{Fletcher aircraft}}
Category:1950s United States attack aircraft
Category:Counter-insurgency aircraft
Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft
Category:Aircraft first flown in 1953