Model Airplane News Cover for October, 1968
Fairchild Model 24
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Here is what the blurb about the cover has to say:

"... California's answer to scale modeling, particularly rC poses with his latest effort, the Fairchild 24. Beautiful model in its original colors flies as well as it looks ..."

About the Model

This model was based on extensive measuremnets taken from a restored Fairchild 24 and follows the original color scheme (light yellow and dark green) The author had considerable affection for this model because his first ride in a full-size airplane was in a Fairchild 24. He has developed an ingenious approach to franing and engine mounting which you can read about by clicking to enlarge the photos below.

        

Scale Model of the Fairchild Model 24
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About the Full Size Airplane

The Fairchild Model 24, a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft that was used by the US Army Air Corps as the UC-61 and by the Royal Air Force. The Model 24 was itself a development of previous Fairchild models and became a successful civil and military utility aircraft.

  

Full-size Fairchild Model 24
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The sturdiness of construction of the aircraft has ensured many have survived to this day. Some suggest the massive spruce main-spars can be loaded up to 10g, and whilst that figure is unproved, all pre-war utility category aircraft were designed to withstand at least 4.1g as opposed to the 3.8g post-war design limit standard. The Fairchild 24 was built from 1932 to 1948 by Krieder-Reisner Aircraft, Hagerstown, Maryland, a division of Fairchild Aviation Corporation. In all, Fairchild constructed over 1500 Model 24s.

In civil use, the aircraft was a quick sales success with prominent businessmen and Hollywood actors purchasing the aircraft. In 1936, the US Navy ordered Model 24s designated as GK-1 and JK-1 research and instrument trainers. The type was also used by the US Army as a light transport and by the Coast Guard, with the designation J2-K. The Civil Air Patrol operated many Fairchild UC-61/24s and some aircraft were fitted with two 100 pound bombs for what became successful missions against German U-boats off the east coast of the United States in the early stages of the Second World War. The UC-61 was also procured by the US Navy as the GK-1 and by the British as the Fairchild Argus.

The aircraft served with military forces as diverse as Finland, Thailand, Israel, Canada, the United States and Australia and to a lesser extent, commercial operators. The last "new" Fairchild 24 was assembled in 1948 from a large inventory of leftover parts in Winfield, KS.

Here is a video showing the Fairchild 24 variant equipped with a radial engine; aft of the firewall, all Model 24s were identical.

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