NICO BRAAS MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 11715. Dayton-Wright FP-2 (N-CAED c/n 1)
Photographed at Toledo Beach, Michigan, USA, ca. September 1921, source unknown

Dayton-Wright FP-2

12/31/2012. This four-seat twin-float cabin seaplane was designed at the request of the Spanish River Pulp and Paper Co, Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario, Canada, for forestry patrol (hence the designation) in 1922. Originally, the
FP-2 had twin Hall-Scott L-6 engines with pusher propellers, but this was changed to a tractor arrangement with 400 hp Liberty 12 engines.

The fabric covered wooden upper and lower wings were interchangeable and steel tubing was used for the interplane support struts. The fuselage was built of spruce longerons and veneer bulkheads, covered with three-ply consisting of balsa sandwiched between black walnut, and supported a triple tail. The cabin was reached from the floats by a folding ladder and there were emergency exits in the roof. Windows were also installed in the lower forward fuselage and the two front seats could be swiveled to face the others, with a table in-between.

Although two were ordered, only one has been confirmed as completed. Registered in the USA as N-CAED, it was severely damaged while taking off from Michipicoten Harbour, north of Sault Ste-Marie, on September 28, 1922, when a float bracing wire failed. The pilot was J. Scott Williams.

Created December 31, 2012