Fairchild C-82 Packet
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| The jet-pack equipped Fairchild C-82 N9701F is still airworthy in USAF markings in the US |
| Fairchild's long association with the twin-boom transport
layout began in a 1941 US Army requirement for a military freighter. Fairchild proposed its F-78 and a contract for a single prototype designated XC-82 was allocated. The aircraft first flew on September 10, 1944, powered by two 2,100hp Pratt and Whitney R-2800-34 Double Wasp 18-cylinder radial engines. Its layout allowing for easy access through rear loading doors, which could be removed completely. Forty-two fully-equipped paratroops could be carried, or 34 stretchers. The US Army initially ordered 100, with another 100 quickly following, and called the type Packet. The total order book had reached 792 by the end of World War II, but widespread cutbacks post-war meant only 220 were built up to 1948. One aircraf, the EC-82A, was converted to test a tracked landing gear. The type served up to 1954 with a few then used by civil operators, notably Trans World Airlines which based one in Europe to transport replacement engines for its passenger fleet. One aircraft is still airworthy but was sold by Hawkins and Powers in the US to a museum in 2006. |
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