Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Monday. Wet everywhere
Gary Smyth
I have attempted to eliminate the end numbers and markings on this plane for today's trivia. It was derelict and now restored to flying condition (note the absence of a cowl on the flying version). It has uniqueness to it and ties to a later aeronautical development. This is the only one.
What is unique about this plane -- and for the gold star, who made it AND what did this plane lead to. 
Re: Monday. Wet everywhere
John Veerkamp, Western Mo
Looks like a predecessor to the Tri-Motor. Did the founder of TWA have anything to do with it?
It sort of does, but
Gary Smyth
the answer is no and yes. Be careful of too much assuming. Incidentally, a long time ago now (70's), I flew right seat, one time, of a Ford Tri-Motor out of Las Vegas. Used those large round wood wheels as the yoke. I wish I had a picture of that.
Monday Answer
Gary Smyth
John had reply using obscuritivness to keep the question alive, but only partially correct.
The one and only Model F46 (In 1936 the �F� was for Fairchild, not the military designation for �fighter�) was the idea of Virginius E. Clark, Fairchild Corporate vice president of engineering. The aircraft was a �proof of concept� design to explore the use of molded wood panels and structure, bonded together with a plastic resin under heat and pressure in an autoclave. A subsidiary company called Duramold aircraft company was created in 1937 to shepherd the project along. Using the Duramold wood-bonding process the planes aft fuselage was a monocoque cone fabricated in two halves. The forward fuselage structure was of conventional welded square steel tubing with aluminum skin. The wing and tail surfaces were fabricated of wood skinned with spruce veneer. All of the control surfaces were aluminum with fabric covering. The aircraft was powered by the Ranger Inverted V-12 SGV-770B-5 engine of 420 horsepower. A confusing number of name changes followed as the aircraft was developed, Fairchild Duramold, Clark, Duramold and finally back to Fairchild. Sherman Fairchild sold the Duramold process to HOWARD HUGHES (founder of TWA) who used it on his large flying boat, the Spruce Goose. Hughes and Juan Tripp of Pan American Airlines used the earlier mentioned Tri-Motor planes to start their airlines. The link is weak for John�s early answer but it is there.
The F46 was acquired in a derelict state by David Lewis, a Fairchild test pilot, in 1947. He managed to reclaim it and eventually converted it to a P&W R985 450HP engine. He flew it for 10 years, parting with it in 1957. The aircraft went through several hands and again was found derelict by Dave in 1998. He reacquired it and dismantled the aircraft and brought it home to Hillsboro, OR from Santa Monica, CA. Copyrighted photo used with permission-- credit: George Trussell.