1934 Fairchild C8A

Golden Age DNA:
The 1934 Fairchild C8A

At the Collection, we love just about every kind of airplane ever made!  And after 122 years of powered flight, a bunch of wars, and a seemingly unending fountain of ideas and entrepreneurship, even the categories of airplanes is overwhelming.  With limited space, money, and time, we’ve made the decision to concentrate our collection, expertise and passion on a tiny sliver of time called the “golden age” of aviation which is generally defined as the period between the two world wars. 

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So, for that reason we’ve decided to part with our beautiful Fairchild 24W built in 1946.  We’ve kidded ourselves that it was designed in the 1930’s, and it was, but when a real 1930’s Fairchild 24 became available from our friend Tom Frasca, we couldn’t say no.  Tom has agreed to sell NC957V to The Collection and we are looking forward to bringing it to its new home – where it will join two other Fairchilds – in the late summer of 2025. 

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Our new 24, one of the first and built in 1934, has the DNA of the 1946 model but like our parents is smaller.  The C8A is a two seater where the W seats four (but comfortably 3) and the engine only has 125 horsepower compared to the post war plane’s 220.  But the triangles in the wing struts and landing gear are there.  As are the ball bearing smooth controls actuated by pushrods instead of cables.  And the older sibling’s lines, while different than the 1946 model are still graceful and appealing. 

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Fairchild had already been in business for a decade by the early 1930’s and had several aviation firsts to its credit including the first fully enclosed cockpit and the first with hydraulic landing gear. They had made many of their sales in commercial aviation which was hard hit by the depression.  Turning to small commercial aviation needs, and personal transportation led to the development of the model 24.  The first was introduced in 1932 and used a number of things from the auto industry, including roll down windows.  One of the earliest commercially viable high wing monoplanes, the 24 led a change in design-thinking at the turn of the 1930’s.  Comfortable and roomy, the new C8 model was built by Fairchild subsidiary Kreider Reisner, who Fairchild had purchased in early 1929.  The Fairchild KR 21 (see the Collection’s example here) and KR 31 were designed and built by Kreider Reisner and there was a pooling of design talent between the merged companies as the C8 was introduced.  Two hundred and fifty three C8 models were ultimately built and 32 are still on the FAA registry.  A small number of the nearly 1800 Fairchilds ultimately constructed. It’s not known how many C8’s are still flying but it isn’t many.

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NC957V is an older restoration, having won the antique Championship at Sun N Fun as far back as 1981.  But it has been well cared for and will fit right into the Collection.  24’s are wonderful flying airplanes which allow the pilot finger tip control and feet flat on the floor flying, if so inclined. 

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Our C8A is one of 25 built with the Warner 125 engine.  This engine, with its exposed rockers and lack of overhead oiling (making it a “greaser”) is relatively crude for its time and the larger Warner 145 has survived in greater numbers.  Still, it’s a reliable engine for its time and we now have two airplanes in The Collection powered by it (see the other, the Lincoln-Page PT-W here) in addition to a couple of 145 powered planes.  Luckily for us many of the parts between the two motors are interchangeable.