Fletcher FU-24
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The Fletcher FU-24 is an
agricultural aircraft An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles, they are referred to as "crop duste ...
made in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. Being one of the first aircraft designed for
aerial topdressing Aerial topdressing is the aerial application of fertilisers over farmland using agricultural aircraft. It was developed in New Zealand in the 1940s and rapidly adopted elsewhere in the 1950s. Origins Previous aerial applications The first k ...
, the Fletcher has also been used for other
aerial application Aerial application, or crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific spreading of fertilizer is also known a ...
s as a utility aircraft, and for
sky diving Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...
.


Design and development

In the early 1950s
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
topdressing operators were in the U.S. seeking a replacement for war surplus
de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary traine ...
s which formed the backbone of the industry. To answer the New Zealand request US aeronautical engineer and light aircraft enthusiast John W. Thorp, working for the Fletcher Aviation Corporation, conceived the T.15 with design elements taken from his earlier T.11 Sky Scooter including an all-moving horizontal tailplane but with a wing design similar to that of his
Fletcher FD-25 Defender 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 La ...
. Further design work was carried out by Gerald Barden of the Fletcher Aviation Corporation under Thorp's direction. A group of New Zealand top dressing operators gathered a hundred purchase options for the design, now marketed as the Fletcher FU-24, off the drawing board and New Zealand farming company
Cable Price Corporation Downer Group is an integrated services company active in Australia and New Zealand. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and New Zealand Stock Exchange as Downer EDI (DOW), Downer is an ASX 200 company. Downer Group employs approximat ...
funded the construction of two prototypes (one for static stress tests which never received a constructor's number and the second, c/n1, to fly) in the U.S. with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board acting as financial guarantor. The Fletcher is a conventional low-wing
monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
with tricycle
undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...
, side-by-side seating in front of the wing and hopper and pronounced dihedral on the outer wing panels. A door aft of the wing's trailing edge on the port side allows access to a cargo compartment. The Fletcher's airframe is constructed entirely of
aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
, heavily treated to prevent
corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
. FU-24 c/n1 flew on 14 June 1954 in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
as N6505C, then was disassembled for shipment to New Zealand where it flew as ZK-BDS. This original prototype had a engine and open
cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...
. Prior to production commencing the design was altered to add an enclosed cockpit and more powerful 260 to Continental engines. The next 70 aircraft were delivered to New Zealand in kit form and assembled at
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airport by operator James Aviation and later at
Tasman Empire Airways Limited Tasman Empire Airways Limited (1940–1965), better known by its acronym TEAL, is the former name of Air New Zealand. TEAL was formed by the Intergovernmental Agreement for Tasman Sea Air Services (also known as the Tasman Sea Agreement), wh ...
's Mechanics Bay factory under contract from a new firm, Air Parts (NZ) Limited. From 1961 full production was undertaken locally by Air Parts which later became part of AESL. It was during Air Parts' production that detail improvements and the option of dual controls were added, becoming the FU-24 Mark II. After the 257th aircraft the engine was changed to a
Lycoming IO-720 The Lycoming IO-720 engine is a large displacement, horizontally opposed, eight-cylinder aircraft engine featuring four cylinders per side, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. There is no carbureted version of the engine, which would have bee ...
horizontally opposed eight-cylinder engine (over a hundred earlier aircraft were re-built and re-engined by the factory). In 1967 a PT6
turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...
version was built by James Aviation as ZK-CTZ, a Garrett TPE 331-powered version followed in 1968 and a Garrett-powered version in 1971, both for Robertson Air Service. Several others were converted aftermarket with these or Walter turbines, (including the first prototype, which flew until recently with a Walter). Two aircraft were also converted to Garrett TPE 331-10 engines by the Scone (NSW Australia) operator Airpasture. These aircraft have since flown many thousands of hours without incident. In the mid 1990s operator Fieldair experimented with a turbocharged small block
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...
402 V-8 producing 550 hp, although the project was cancelled before it flew, and in the early 2000s Super Air flew a Fletcher powered by a 550 hp Ford V-8 diesel which was replaced by a Walter turbine after trials were completed. In 2018 another Fletcher was fitted with a RED A03/V12 diesel engine and trials are ongoing as of 2022. At least nineteen different engines have been fitted to the Fletcher. In the mid 1970s, Pacific Aerospace decided the Fletcher design was reaching the limits of redevelopment and introduced the larger and stronger PAC Cresco. Despite the similar appearance this is a new aircraft, though sharing a few components. For several years production of the two continued side by side, but the type is now effectively out of production, (new Fletchers remain nominally available from the manufacturer, but no new aircraft have been built since a batch of five for
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
was completed in 1992). Although Fletcher was the name of the manufacturer in the U.S. and the aircraft was called the FU-24, over time the type has become colloquially known as the Fletcher. Fletchers have been sold to most parts of the world, although they are rare in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and the US. Government orders came from many developing countries including
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,
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
, Syria and
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
.


Variants

* FU-24 : Single-seat agricultural top dressing aircraft. * FU-24A Utility : Six-seat utility transport aircraft. One prototype built in the United States. * FU-24-1060 : James Aviation turbine conversion with a 500 hp
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964, and has been continuously upd ...
A-20. One built. * FU-24-1160 : Robertson Air Service turbine conversion with a 530 hp
Garrett TPE331 The Honeywell TPE331 (military designation: T76) is a turboprop engine. It was designed in the 1950s by Garrett AiResearch, and produced since 1999 by successor Honeywell Aerospace. The engine's power output ranges from . Design and developm ...
-57A. One built. * FU-24-1284 : Robertson Air Service turbine conversion with a 665 hp Garrett TPE331-101A. One built. * FU-24-950 : Two-seat agricultural top dressing aircraft. Also known as the Task Master in the United States. * FU-24-954 : Improved version of the -954. * Pegasus 1 : proposed military version developed by Frontier Aerospace, of
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, not built. * Fletcher Falcon : Wanganui Aero Work conversion with Lycoming LTP101 engine and Cresco wing and main landing gear. One built. * Fletcher FU24-550GT Crusader : Flight Care of Napier conversion fitted with 550 hp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-15AG. One built.


Operators

; *
Mount Cook Airline Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand ...


Aircraft on display

Three examples are held by aviation museums in New Zealand: * c/n 72 ZK-BWV is under restoration by the Gisborne Aviation Preservation Society for display in the Tairāwhiti Aviation Museum, after having been used as a
gate guardian A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main ...
for several years at
Gisborne Airport Gisborne Airport is a regional airport located in the suburb of Elgin 4.2 km from the city centre of Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Gisborne Airport is one of the few airports in the world that has a railw ...
* c/n 124 ZK-CRY is on display at Classic Flyers NZ in
Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...
painted as ZK-BDS * c/n 1001 ZK-CTZ, the first turbine-powered Fletcher, is on display at the
Museum of Transport and Technology The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a transport and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has ...
in
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...


Specifications (FU-24-954)


See also


Notes


References

* Alexander, G. & J. S. Tullett, ''The Super Men''. A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1967 * Ewing, Ross and MacPherson, Ross. ''The History of New Zealand Aviation'', Heinemann, 1986 * Geelen, Janic. ''The Topdressers'' NZ Aviation Press. Te Awamutu, 1983 * Knowles, Alan.'' New Zealand Aircraft'', IPL Books, Wellington, 1990 * Lambert, Mark. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1993–94''. Coulsdon, UK:Jane's Data Division, 1993. . * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66''. London:Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1965. * Wood, Dereck, ''Janes World Aircraft Recognition Handbook'', Jane's Publishing Company, London, 1982


External links


Manufacturer's web site
*

{{Pacific Aerospace aircraft Fletcher 1950s New Zealand agricultural aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1954 FU-24 Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft