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.

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.

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, 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.

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

Notes

Bibliography

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Wikipedia