Manufactured June 1943 at its Hagerstown factory by Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation as a UC-61A Forwarder. (Fairchild 24W-41A - RAF Argus 2). Constructor’s number 565. Engine - 165-h.p Warner Super Scarab radial. 512 of this model were built, of which the USAAF retained 148 for its own use, others going to Britain on Lend-Lease where they were mainly used by the Air Transport Auxiliary for ferry pilot duties, in addition to extensive RAF use in the Middle East and India.
Delivered to United States Army Air Force as 43-14601 to order No.AC-28355 at a cost of $10,611.
29 Jun 43 Shipped to the United Kingdom via Brooklyn, New York to where it was delivered ‘by Land’.
It is likely that during the war years the aircraft was used as a hack aircraft by the US 8th Air Force and rendered surplus at the end of the war.
18 December 1946 Registered as G-AIZE.
Painted as "FS628" RAF SEAC. (The original FS628 was one of 161 Argus II aircraft delivered to the RAF March 1943 - February 1944; it served in the Far East and returned to the United States 27 March 1947
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