Fairchild 24W-46 Aircraft Story

Fairchild 24W-46
Dear Aircraft Spruce,

Seven years ago I took over a ground up restoration project on a Fairchild 24W-46 for a friend of mine.

I had married a lady in Thailand and brought her back to the states with me. She had never rode in a small aircraft before, let alone work on one. Lucky for me, she was a fast learner.

We took the bare fuselage from scratch to a flying aircraft. The aircraft had been 17 years since it last flew. We removed the Warner engine and installed a Jacobs 245 horse power engine.

The majority of parts, insturments used in the restoration were purchased from Aircraft Spruce. The boot cowling was hand made and the engine cowling was made from a New Waco cowling, modified to fit the Fairchild fuselage and boot cowling.

My Thai wife could speak and write some English, but a lot of the aviation terminology she did not understand. When it came to installing the covering, we went with the POLY-FIBER System in its entirety. My wife had a little problem with reading and understanding the Poly-Fiber Manual, but with the help of the video, she was able to figure it out. I never tied the first modified seine knot, she did them all. There were 376 knotes per wing.

My FAA Inspector said it was the best fabric job he had ever seen.

Frank Rogers