Fletcher FD-25

FD-25 Defender
Role Counter-Insurgency aircraft
Manufacturer Fletcher
Designer John Thorp
First flight 1953
Primary users Royal Cambodian Air Force
South Vietnamese Air Force
Number built 13


The Fletcher FD-25 Defender was a light ground-attack aircraft developed in the United States in the early 1950s.

Design and development

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 (three single-seater attack versions and three two-seat trainers) to Cambodia,[1] and four to Vietnam. One example remains extant and in an airworthy condition today, and appeared at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow in 2010. Built under licence in New Zealand from the mid-1950s in many variations, its much improved descendants are available under the Fletcher name in 2014.

Specifications

Fletcher Defender at Fullerton, California, in 1971

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References

Notes

  1. Grandolini 1988, p. 39.

Bibliography

  • 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.

External links

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