Fairchild 71

The Fairchild 71 is an American high-wing monoplane passenger and cargo aircraft, a development of the FC-2W2 that Fairchild built in the United States from 1928 to 1930 and later in Canada through Fairchild Aircraft Limited, a company formed in 1929 at Longueuil, Quebec. It served as a rugged bush plane and, in its Canadian military form, for aerial photography, with a camera bay for vertical photographs and low rear windows for oblique ones. The United States Army Air Service evaluated one as the XC-8, and the Royal Canadian Air Force flew 34 of them from 1930 to 1946 on survey, northern transport and patrol work, including anti-smuggling flights with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Most production went to bush operators in Canada and the United States. The Alberta Aviation Museum describes the 71-C as the first successful all-season bush plane.