Fleet Finch

Fleet Finch
	Fleet Finch II at the Canadian Museum of Flight British Columbia
Role	Trainer
Manufacturer	Fleet Aircraft
First flight	8 February 1939
Introduction	1939
Retired	1947
Status	Retired
Primary users	Royal Canadian Air Force; Portugal
Produced	1939- 1941
Number built	606

Fleet 16B Finch in the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Hamilton, Ontario - note centre-hinged main LG radius rods

Fleet 16B Finch at the Canadian Museum of Flight in South Surrey BC, July 1988

The Fleet Finch (Fleet Model 16) is a two-seat, tandem training biplane produced by Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario. There were a number of variants mainly based on engine variations. Over several years beginning in 1939, a total of 447 Finches were built, nearly all (431) of them for use as elementary trainers in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during the Second World War.

Design and development

The Fleet 16B Finch II was a progressive development of the original Consolidated Fleet primary trainer (Fleet 10), manufacture of which commenced in Canada by Fleet Aircraft in 1930. After a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) evaluation in 1938 recommended a number of changes, a total of 431 Finch trainers were built for the RCAF between 1939 and 1941.^[1] The aircraft had conventional construction for the period with a welded steel-tube fuselage and composite metal, wood and fabric design features, with Frise ailerons, a flat-bottom airfoiled lifting tailplane and similarly "lifting airfoil" on the vertical stabilizer, cambered into an airfoil on its starboard side only, to offset the P-factor of the propeller's swirling slipstream. The RCAF acquired the aircraft type as an elementary trainer. The Fleet 16 first entered RCAF service with tandem open cockpits, but the severity of the Canadian winter necessitated the introduction of a sliding canopy at an early stage in the trainer's service career. The earlier Model 10's centre-hinged main landing gear radius rods were retained for the Model 16 series, as these centre-hinged units had replaced the "looped" left mainwheel's radius rod design that had been on the even-earlier Fleet Models 1, 2 & 7 biplanes from their own origins in November 1928.^{[citation needed]}

Operational history

The Finch was a mainstay of the RCAF prior to and during the early part of the Second World War, flying at the Elementary Flying Training Schools (EFTS) in parallel with the better known de Havilland Tiger Moth, also produced in Canada. The earlier Fleet Model 7 (Fleet Fawn) was also in use for primary training. During 1940, initial production problems were solved and timely deliveries were made to the RCAF, allowing the first training programs to start up. In the following year, the Portuguese Navy purchased ten Model 16Ds (ordered as 10Bs but changed to the higher powered variant) and later a further five 16Ds were delivered in 1942.^[2]

A total of 606 Fleet Finches were produced as Model 16s, the majority for the RCAF. They were used as initial trainers in the BCATP at no fewer than 12 Elementary Flight Training Schools across Canada. Both the Fleet Finch and Tiger Moth were later replaced by the Fairchild PT-26 Cornell. The Finch was progressively phased out of service from October 1944 with the last of the Model 16s struck off strength from the RCAF inventory in 1947.

Variants

Model 10: Model was an improved Fleet 7 with new tail and better cockpit, for export.
Model 10A: Model powered by 100 hp (75 kW) Kinner
Model 10B: Model powered by 125 hp (93 kW) Kinner B5-R, five cylinder radial engine
Model 10D: Model powered by 160 hp (120 kW) Kinner R5-2, five cylinder radial engine
Model 10E: Model powered by 145 hp (108 kW) Warner Super Scarab seven cylinder radial engine
Model 10F: Model powered by 145 hp (108 kW) Warner Super Scarab seven cylinder radial engine
Model 10G: Model powered by 90 hp (67 kW) Wright-Gypsy or 130 hp (97 kW) Gypsy Major inline engine, built under license in Romania at IAR, SET & ICAR factories, also used in Portugal.
Model 10H: Model 150 hp (112 kW) supercharged Menasco C-4S Inline
Model 16F: One prototype based on the Fleet Model 10; powered by a 175 hp (130 kW) Warner Super Scarab seven cylinder radial engine
Model 16R (Finch I): 27 built for RCAF; powered by 160 hp (120 kW) Kinner R5-2, five cylinder radial engine
Model 16B (Finch II): 404 built for the RCAF; powered by 130 hp (97 kW) (variously noted as 125 hp (93 kW)) Kinner B5-R, five cylinder radial engine
Model 16D: 15 built for the Portuguese Navy; powered by 160 hp (120 kW) Kinner B5-2, five cylinder radial engine

Operators

Canada
- Royal Canadian Air Force
Portugal
- Portuguese Navy
Romania
- Royal Romanian Air Force
Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Chinese Air Force

Survivors

Several examples of the Finch exist as airworthy aircraft in North America, flown as private aircraft.

A restored Fleet 16B Finch with American registration N666J, has flown at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome since at least 1970, with at least three different color schemes in its four decades-plus of flying in Old Rhinebeck's weekend airshows.^[3]

Specifications (Finch II)

Data from ^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: 2

Performance

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Holmes 2005, p 78.
^ ^a ^b Page and Cumming 1990, p. 72.
^ "Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's Fleet Finch page." Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Retrieved: 21 December 2012.

Bibliography

Holmes, Tony. Jane's Vintage Aircraft Recognition Guide. London: Harper Collins, 2005. ISBN 0-00-719292-4.
Molson, Ken M. and Harold A. Taylor. Canadian Aircraft Since 1909. Stittsville, Ontario: Canada's Wings, Inc., 1982. ISBN 0-920002-11-0.
Page, Ron D. and William Cumming, . Fleet: The Flying Years. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1990. ISBN 1-55046-019-6.

External links

[Holmes-1] Holmes 2005, p 78.

[Page_and_Cumming_p._72.-2] Page and Cumming 1990, p. 72.

[3] "Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's Fleet Finch page." Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Retrieved: 21 December 2012.

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