Fleet Model 2
After the success of Consolidated's PT-1 Trusty and PT-3 Husky designs as post-World War I trainers for the US Army Air Corps and Navy, the company decided to market a similar biplane design to the growing civilian market. Initially known as the Husky Junior, Consolidated abruptly pulled the plug on the design not long after the prototype flew in November 1928, concentrating instead on military contracts.
However, Consolidated's president, Reuben Fleet--who had designed the the Husky Junior and would go on to help design the B-24 Liberator and PBY Catalina--liked his design too much to see it die. He formed a subsidiary company, Fleet Aircraft, and marketed the Husky Junior as the Fleet Model 1. This became the success that Fleet knew it would be, with 300 aircraft produced in its first year of production. Consolidated's board of directors reconsidered, and the Model 1 was quickly superseded by the Model 2, with a more powerful Kinner engine. Model 2s were produced in both the United States and Canada; the latter were known as Fleet Fawns and Finches.
Though the Fleet biplanes were intended for civilian markets, their success led the USAAC to purchase a small number as the PT-6, and the Navy to buy them as N2Y-1s. The latter ended up in a truly unique role: as trainers for the Navy's Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighters, based aboard the Navy's immense airships, the USS Akron and Macon. The N2Ys carried the same trapeze hooks that allowed them to dock with the airships, and besides being used as trainers, they could ferry people to the airships without the latter having to land.
Built in a staggering number of variants, from the Model 1 through the Model 21, the Fleet biplanes would be gone from US military stocks by the time World War II rolled around, but enough remained in civilian hands that they were used in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) as the intial step for prospective combat pilots. Of over 900 aircraft built, a handful survive to the modern day.
One of the surviving Model 2s is this example at the Pima Air and Space Museum. It was built in 1929 and flew with a number of private owners, including Gilpen and Greenway Airlines of Tucson, Arizona, from 1934 to 1945. Gilpen and Greenway operated this aircraft during World War II as part of the CPTP. It was donated to Pima in 1992, and restored to its prewar appearance. It was one of a few aircraft I'd missed getting a shot of in 2019, so I made sure to score a picture in 2020!
Fleet Model 2
After the success of Consolidated's PT-1 Trusty and PT-3 Husky designs as post-World War I trainers for the US Army Air Corps and Navy, the company decided to market a similar biplane design to the growing civilian market. Initially known as the Husky Junior, Consolidated abruptly pulled the plug on the design not long after the prototype flew in November 1928, concentrating instead on military contracts.
However, Consolidated's president, Reuben Fleet--who had designed the the Husky Junior and would go on to help design the B-24 Liberator and PBY Catalina--liked his design too much to see it die. He formed a subsidiary company, Fleet Aircraft, and marketed the Husky Junior as the Fleet Model 1. This became the success that Fleet knew it would be, with 300 aircraft produced in its first year of production. Consolidated's board of directors reconsidered, and the Model 1 was quickly superseded by the Model 2, with a more powerful Kinner engine. Model 2s were produced in both the United States and Canada; the latter were known as Fleet Fawns and Finches.
Though the Fleet biplanes were intended for civilian markets, their success led the USAAC to purchase a small number as the PT-6, and the Navy to buy them as N2Y-1s. The latter ended up in a truly unique role: as trainers for the Navy's Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk parasite fighters, based aboard the Navy's immense airships, the USS Akron and Macon. The N2Ys carried the same trapeze hooks that allowed them to dock with the airships, and besides being used as trainers, they could ferry people to the airships without the latter having to land.
Built in a staggering number of variants, from the Model 1 through the Model 21, the Fleet biplanes would be gone from US military stocks by the time World War II rolled around, but enough remained in civilian hands that they were used in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) as the intial step for prospective combat pilots. Of over 900 aircraft built, a handful survive to the modern day.
One of the surviving Model 2s is this example at the Pima Air and Space Museum. It was built in 1929 and flew with a number of private owners, including Gilpen and Greenway Airlines of Tucson, Arizona, from 1934 to 1945. Gilpen and Greenway operated this aircraft during World War II as part of the CPTP. It was donated to Pima in 1992, and restored to its prewar appearance. It was one of a few aircraft I'd missed getting a shot of in 2019, so I made sure to score a picture in 2020!