By: William Ortis
AUTHOR COMMENTS
This is the 1938 Fairchild 24 R, equipped with the Ranger upside-down straight 6 engine and the rugged, famous looking suspension designed to land on rough fields. This model was done as close as possible from actual factory drawings. The white version is a remake of my Dads plane, Registry N77691. Francis (June) Ortis flew this plane to many air shows and was a popular member in the San Diego EAA community. This model features opening doors, working suspension, steering tail wheel (easier to taxi), animated control surfaces, panel, animated pop-down landing lights, reflective and dynamic shine textures, opening cowling, and 3 versions of Fairchild’s color schemes. This model also offers a detailed virtual cockpit with functioning gauges. Remodeled and enhanced in Gmax. By William Ortis, Lionheart Creations Ltd. *Important Read Me file enclosed.
HISTORY
The Fairchild Model 24 was initially produced in 1932 as a braced high-wing monoplane with seating for two persons, side by side. It enjoyed a fairly successful sales career, being developed through a number of civilian and military models. Purchasers had a choice of a number of radial or in-line power plants, seating capacities and utility or de luxe models.
The USAAF operated variants designated C-61 and UC-61, usually known as the Forwarder. The US Navy employed the Fairchild in GK-1 and JK-1 designations. The US Coast Guard flew it as the J2K, and the RAF operated a number under Lend-Lease as the Argus. Four examples entered RAAF service for communications duties between September 1940 and March 1943. Three (serials A36-1, -2 and -4) were model 24Rs, with inline engines, and the fourth (A36-3) was a 24G, with a Warner Scarab radial engine. All survived the war and were sold in 1945-46.
A number of examples of this pre-war aircraft remain active throughout the world, and the 2000 Australian civil register showed one Model 24R and four Model 24Ws, the population rising in 2002 by one further 24R.
SPECIFICATIONS
TYPE: 3-4 seat light transport.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
POWER PLANT: Warner Super Scarab 50 radial engine, 145 hp; ACE Cirrus Hi-Ace 4-cyl inverted inline engine; variety of Ranger 6-cyl. inline engines of 145-165 hp.
DIMENSIONS:
Wing span: 36 ft 4 in / 11.07 m.
Length: 23 ft 10 in / 7.26 m
Height: 7 ft 4 in / 2.24 m.
WEIGHTS:
Empty: 1,475 lb / 669 kg
Max. take off: 2,400 lb / 1089 kg
PERFORMANCE:
Max. speed: 130 mph / 209 kph a.s.l.
Cruising speed: 118 kt / 190 kph
Initial climb; 875 ft / 206 m. per min.
Service ceiling: 16,500 ft / 5030 m.
Range: 475 mls / 754 km
CAPACITY: Seats 3-4.
COMMENT
I Reviewed another Fairchild 24 by William Ortiz several months back and truly feel that, after downloading and installing this latest model, it deserves another review. The purpose of FS2004 is the history of flight and no aircraft collection is truly complete without a Fairchild model 24. The Author did a wonderful job modeling this aircraft to scale, taking into account the many features available in 1938. Some notable mentions are folding landing lights (available with the tail hook command), opening engine compartment (available with the wing fold command), spring loaded landing gear, wheel covers, wooden prop textures, and opening doors. The aircraft textures are superb, especially the yellow and green variant. The instrument panel is true to the aircraft and takes up the majority of screen real-estate. The virtual cockpit is very realistic. Flight dynamics are typical of a tail dragger, but do seem to be tweaked to take off straight without much engine torque. The Author includes a read me file in Microsoft Word that explains the aircraft in great detail from installation to flight dynamics. Kudos to Mr. Ortis for taking the time to provide a read me complete with images, and even a poem at the end. It’s obvious that a lot of work went into the creation of this model. I highly recommend this aircraft to anyone true to the FS2004 theme.
