Fletcher FD-25

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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 Aircraft Industry 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,[1] and four to Vietnam. One example (FD-25B JA3051)[2] served with the Royal Thai Police.

The wing design of the Fletcher FU-24 aerial topdressing plane was loosely based on that of the FD-25 Defender.[3] Almost 300 were built under licence in New Zealand from the mid-1950s and used for agricultural and skydiving operations.[4]

Surviving aircraft

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[5] and a two-seater[6]) are on museum display at the Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology in Japan.

Specifications

File:Fletcher N91316 fullerton 060271-1-.jpg
Fletcher Defender at Fullerton, California, in 1971

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1955–56[7]

General characteristics

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  • Guns: 2 × wing-mounted .30-in (7.62 mm) machine guns
  • Rockets:
    • 40 × 2.75 inch rockets or
    • 4 × 5-inch rockets or
    • 20 × 8 cm rockets
  • Bombs: 2 × 250 lb (113 kg) bombs

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

Notes

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  1. ^ Grandolini 1988, p. 39.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."東洋航空工業株式会社、藤沢海軍航空隊の燃料庫庫". Archived from the original on 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Deerness, Ray. "The Fletcher Is Fifty". Pacific Wings. No. September 2004. Archived from the original on 20 Feb 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Neal, Tracy (10 February 2011). "Fletcher operators defend aircraft". Stuff. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."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".
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."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".
  7. ^ Bridgman 1955, p. 260.

Bibliography

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  • 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. Template:ISBN.
  • World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing, 1985, pp. File 894 Sheet 25.

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