There are a handful of these still being operated in the UK - they were the backbone of ATA, the aircraft delivery logistics arm during WW2.

By chance have seen two of them recently - very imposing. The UK aircraft have the in line Ranger engine, although the 500 or so units that were used in WW2 had the Scarab radial.

A search does not produce much comment on the forum - it would be nice to get some pilot reports on handling and practicality. They seem to be well built and reasonable load carriers for the engine power.

There's one 10 minutes from where I sit going through restoration. I try to go touch it once a week I've heard really good things about them, but have no first hand knowledge beyond looking at it being rebuilt.

I had the opportunity to fly a Fairchild 24 with the radial for about three hours once. I found it to be a really nice, well balanced seaplane. Wasn't over powered, but it had enough power to get the work done. It handled REALLY nice in the air, and was a delightful airplane to fly all in all. I was seriously interested in buying it, but the owner decided to keep it.

Great airplane.

MTV

There was a nice one at the Powell River fly in this year.

Woodwing might offer some commentary here...

WOW, I love talking about Fairchilds. You are correct. I found the Fairchild to be a wonderful flying aircraft. Mine had the R-670 conversion on the front of it, dialing it up to 260 hp. Due to the Beach Robby prop having an AD, and basically a wall hanger, it had a wooden sensenich on it. Not having a constant speed prop presented challenges on floats. It was pretty slow getting up on step and it required just the right tough to get it in the air. On wheels, it was great, but on floats I really had to watch the weight. This aircraft is really a delight to fly.

I got a little time in a friends 165 Warner powered Fairchild.
Delightful control feel with pushrods, roll down glass windows that you can hang your arm out when you are flying, long
oleo gear that makes it feel like a vintage Cadillac.
I've looked at three to buy, haven't got one yet. The ServAero 220 Continental
Mod looks really nice but suffers from a
low useful weight. I don't think I'm man enough to keep a Warner or Ranger happy and running.
Dave

Yeah, the real glass roll down windows, using something that looked like an old Packard window crank...... and the surprisingly light and smooth controls, are what I remember from my 15 minutes of stick time in one. A guy named Sam Bennett from Idaho Falls had a Ranger powered one, and he got it pretty cheap, as in non collector airplane but just old airplane cheap.