12/31/2007. Remarks by Jack McKillop: "By 1936, Fairchild Aircraft of Canada decided to build a larger aircraft with the RCAF and Canadian Airways as prospective customers. The result was the 45-80, a twin-engine sesquiplane with the name Sekani, an Indian tribe living around the headwaters of the Peace and Liard Rivers in Northwest British Columbia. Literally, Sekain means "dwellers on the rocks".
This aircraft was the prototype and it made its first flight from the St. Lawrence River opposite Monteal, Quebec, on August 24, 1937. This aircraft had a number of deficiencies; with one engine off, it proved impossible to control directionally, it was overweight and the ailerons caused severe drag tending to turn the aircraft in the opposite direction. The RCAF tested the aircraft in October 1937 as a possible photographic aircraft but found it was unfit for this role. Canadian Airways also tested it but found that its payload was not greater than single-engine aircraft already in service.
A second Sekani was built but the aircraft never went into production. One reason was that the company was awarded a contract in 1937 to build the British Bristol Bolingbroke for the RCAF and this contract was more lucrative."
