Fletcher FU 24s - Then and Now

Thanks to Zac Yates, I was reminded that today is the 68th anniversary of the first flight of the Fletcher FU 24 in Los Angeles back on 14 June 1954.  That first Fletcher FU 24 was registered N6505C and it became ZK-BDS with Robertson Air Service Ltd.  I see from looking back on the blog that we often do a Fletcher FU 24 post around the time of the anniversary of its first flight.  Here is a post from 5 years ago:  https://nzcivair.blogspot.com/2017/06/first-flight-63-years-ago.html

This is what it looked like when it arrived in New Zealand, here during testing at the old Rongotai Airport in late 1954.  It was fitted with a 225 HP Continental O-470E engine.

The original 225 HP Fletchers were underpowered and so over the years the engine power was upped and the original design was modified and strengthened to take an increasing payload.  It would be interesting to see the number of different engine types that the Fletcher FU 24 has flown with over the years, and it would be plenty.  Maybe that can be the subject of a future post.

Fast forward to 2022  and on 26 May Fletcher FU 24 ZK-EUC took to the air at Gore behind another new engine type - a 500 HP Red AO3 V 12 diesel manufactured by Red Aircraft GmbH in Germany.  This has been a long term development by Bill Sutherland.  This is a screenshot from a video of its first take off.

Here is a better photo of it, taken on 5/7/19.  You can click to enlarge the photo to see more detail of the engine installation.