Fairchild T-31   BuNo 75726

                                  

                                      This is the second prototype XNQ-1 and the more common image depicting this aircraft, powered
                                      then with the 320 h.p. Lycoming XR-680-13 radial engine.   Although designed for the Navy, the
                                      USAF evinced an interest in it and it was then given the designation T-31.  In the event the contract
                                      for the new trainer was given in 1949 to the Beech T-34 Mentor, and Fairchild dropped plans to
                                      develop this rather nice design and concentrate on other production contracts, such as the C-119.
                                      The machine seen above passed onto the civil register some time later and was allegedly alive and
                                      well (in 2006) following a marathon restoration project by Don Pellegrenno of Rhome, Texas.