Fleet Finch

infobox Aircraft
name =Fleet Finch
type = Trainer
manufacturer = Fleet Aircraft

---

caption =Fleet Finch II at the Canadian Museum of Flight British Columbia
designer=
first flight =8 February 1939
introduced = 1939
retired = 1947
status = Retired
primary user =Royal Canadian Air Force
more users = Portugal
produced = 1939- 1941
number built =606Holmes, 2005. p 78.]
unit cost =
variants with their own articles =

The Fleet Finch (Fleet Model 16) is a two-seat, tandem training biplane produced by Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario. There were a number of variants mainly based on engine variations. Over several years beginning in 1939, a total of 447 Finches were built, nearly all (431) of them for use as elementary trainers in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during the Second World War.

Design and development

The Fleet 16B Finch II was a progressive development of the original Consolidated Fleet primary trainer (Fleet 10), manufacture of which commenced in Canada by Fleet Aircraft in 1930. After a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) evaluation in 1938 recommended a number of changes, a total of 431 Finch trainers were built for the RCAF between 1939 and 1941. The aircraft had conventional construction for the period with a welded steel-tube fuselage and composite metal, wood and fabric design features. The RCAF acquired the aircraft type as an elementary trainer. The Fleet 16 first entered RCAF service with tandem open cockpits, but the severity of the Canadian winter necessitated the introduction of a sliding canopy at an early stage in the trainer's service career.

Operational history

The Finch was a mainstay of the RCAF prior to and during the early part of the Second World War, flying at the Elementary Flying Training Schools (EFTS) in parallel with the better known de Havilland Tiger Moth. The earlier Fleet Model 7 (Fleet Fawn) was also in use for primary training. During 1940, initial production problems were solved and timely deliveries were made to the RCAF, allowing the first training programs to start up. In the following year, the Portuguese Navy purchased ten Model 16Ds (ordered as 10Bs but changed to the higher powered variant) and later a further five 16Ds were delivered in 1942. [Page and Cumming 1990, p. 72.]

A total of 606 Fleet Finches were produced as Model 16s, the majority for the RCAF. They were used as initial trainers in the BCATP at no fewer than 12 Elementary Flight Training Schools across Canada. Both the Fleet Finch and Tiger Moth were later replaced by the Fairchild PT-26 Cornell. The Finch was progressively phased out of service from October 1944 with the last of the Model 16s struck off strength from the RCAF inventory in 1947.

Variants

* Model 16F: One prototype based on the Fleet Model 10; powered by a convert|175|hp|abbr=on Warner Super Scarab seven cylinder radial engine
* Model 16R (Finch I): 27 built for RCAF; powered by convert|160|hp|abbr=on Kinner R5-2, five cylinder radial engine
* Model 16B (Finch II): 404 built for the RCAF; powered by 130 hp (variously noted as 125 hp) Kinner B5-R, five cylinder radial engine
* Model 16D : 15 built for the Portuguese Navy; powered by convert|160|hp|abbr=on Kinner B5-2, five cylinder radial engine

pecifications (Finch II)

aerospecs
ref=Page and Cumming 1990, p. 72.
met or eng?=eng

crew=2
capacity=
length m=6.64
length ft=21
length in=8
span m=8.53
span ft=28
span in=0
height m=2.36
height ft=7
height in=9
wing area sqm=59.25
wing area sqft=194.4
empty weight kg=509
empty weight lb=1,222
gross weight kg=908
gross weight lb=2,000

eng1 number=1
eng1 type= Kinner B-5 five-cylinder radial piston engine
eng1 kw=
eng1 hp=125

eng2 number=
eng2 type=
eng2 kw=
eng2 hp=

max speed kmh=192
max speed mph=104
cruise speed kmh=137
cruise speed mph=85
stall speed kmh=
stall speed mph=
range km=483
range miles=300
endurance h=
endurance min=
ceiling m=3,200
ceiling ft=10,500
g limits=
roll rate=
climb rate ms=2
climb rate ftmin=435

armament1=
armament2=
armament3=
armament4=
armament5=
armament6=

Operators

*CAN
** Royal Canadian Air Force
*POR
**Portuguese Navy

References

Bibliography

*
* Molson, Ken M. and Taylor, Harold A. "Canadian Aircraft Since 1909". Stittsville, Ontario: Canada's Wings, Inc., 1982. ISBN 0-920002-11-0.
* Page, Ron D. and Cumming, William. "Fleet: The Flying Years". Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1990. ISBN 1-55046-019-6.

External links

* [http://www.tigerboys.com/finch.html Web page for CF-GER, a restored Fleet Finch II, with performance figures]
* [http://www.canadianflight.org/collect/col_10.htm Fleet 16B Finch MkII]

ee also

* List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Canada (specifies which BCATP schools used the Finch)