Fairchild 45-80 Sekani
Although the 45-80 was the largest bush plane developed by Fairchild, its poor performance doomed the project, and nearly the company.[2] The Sekani was a large sesquiplane of conventional configuration, with the sets of wings joined to the top and bottom of the fuselage and braced by N-struts.[3] Testing commenced in August 1937 and revealed a number of serious deficiencies in the design, including that the aircraft was overweight and impossible to control directionally when flying on only one engine as the ailerons caused severe drag tending to turn the aircraft in the opposite direction.Canadian Airways tests showed that the new design had a payload capacity no greater than the single-engine types that they were already operating.[1] Fairchild recovered from the financial disaster that was looming after the Sekani's cancellation when the company landed a lucrative contract to build Bristol Bolingbroke bombers as part of the shadow factory system that was set up to supply RAF needs.