1943 FAIRCHILD PT-26

Description

N75LD is a Fairchild PT-26A Cornell II, model M-62A-3, built by Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario under license from Fairchild Aircraft of Hagerstown, Maryland, and powered by the 200 horsepower Ranger six cylinder inverted inline engine. The PT-26 was the enclosed canopy version of the Fairchild primary trainer family that introduced thousands of Allied cadets to flight. WARTIME SERVICE Delivered under the Lend Lease program as United States Army Air Forces serial 42-71130, taken on strength by the Royal Air Force as FT715, and transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force as serial 14554. Served as a primary trainer under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at fields across Canada. RESTORATION AND AWARDS Following postwar civil registration as N75LD, with a certificate of airworthiness issued August 30, 1962, the aircraft received a complete restoration by Joe and Mark Denest of MD Aero, West Chester, Pennsylvania, recipients of multiple EAA Silver Wrench awards for Fairchild restorations. At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2003 the aircraft was judged Best Primary Trainer in the Warbirds division, with the Silver Wrench restoration award presented to MD Aero. TULLIUS OWNERSHIP In May 2002 the aircraft was purchased by Robert "Bob" Tullius, founder of the Group 44 Inc racing team that returned Jaguar to Le Mans, member of the IMSA Hall of Fame and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and a lifelong aviator. It was based at his Group 44 hangar at Sebring Regional Airport, Florida, and was the subject of a published flight evaluation by Dave Unwin for Key Publishing, which described the restoration standard as immaculate. The aircraft has remained in continuous Tullius family ownership since 2002 and is airworthy and regularly flown. OWNERSHIP CHAIN 1943: United States Army Air Forces, serial 42-71130, allocated under Lend Lease 1943: Royal Air Force FT715, then Royal Canadian Air Force 14554 1962: United States civil registry as N75LD 1989: Frank W. Young, Lexington 1996: Grand Strand Aviation Park Inc, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 2002 to date: Robert C. Tullius and family, continuous family ownership