French WW1 reconnaissance aircraft From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Farman HF.20 and its derivatives were a family of reconnaissance aircraft produced in France shortly before and during the First World War. It was a refined version of the Farman MF.11 "Shorthorn" that did away with the type's distinctive landing skids, and incorporated design features from Henri Farman's designs. It entered service with the French, Belgian and Serbian armies in 1913 (two aircraft conducted reconnaissance during the Siege of Scutari in the First Balkan War and one crashed), and with the British RFC and RNAS shortly after the outbreak of war. The type was also licence-built in the UK by Airco and Grahame-White.
A HF.20 biplane at Nicopolis airfield, near Preveza, in December 1912
The HF.20 was seriously underpowered, and a variety of engines were trialled in the hope of correcting this, none with much success. The problem was eventually solved only when an engine of twice the power of the original powerplant was fitted to the HF.27 variant, by which time the aircraft was already obsolete. Nevertheless, the performance of the HF.20 made it adequate for use on secondary fronts.
15.5m (51ft) span and increased wing area version with Gnome Lambda engine. At least one of the few built, entered service with the Fliegertruppe of Switzerland.
HF.22
15.58m (51.1ft) span and increased wing area version with Gnome Lambda engine.
HF.22 floatplane
(aka HF.22bis or Savoia-built HF.22-H)
HF.23
18.08m (59.3ft) span version with Gnome Lambda engine
HF.24
11.5m (38ft) span aerobatic version with Gnome Lambda engine
HF.27
155hp (116kW)Canton-Unné R9 engine or 240hp (180kW)Renault engine with a revised undercarriage that included nose wheels similar to the Voisin III.
HF-20 of the Swiss Air Force during the First World War
Davilla, Dr. James J.; Soltan, Arthur M. (January 2002). French aircraft of the First World War. Flying Machines Press. pp.207–212. ISBN1891268090.
Klaauw, Bart van der (March–April 1999). "Unexpected Windfalls: Accidentally or Deliberately, More than 100 Aircraft 'arrived' in Dutch Territory During the Great War". Air Enthusiast (80): 54–59. ISSN0143-5450.
Liron, Jean (1984). Les avions Farman. Collection Docavia. Vol.21. Paris: Éditions Larivière. OCLC37146471.
Thomas, Andrew. "In the Footsteps of Daedulus: Early Greek Naval Aviation". Air Enthusiast, No. 94, July–August 2001, pp.8–9. ISSN0143-5450
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Farman HF.20.
Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp.380–381.
World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. pp.File 894 Sheet 14–15.
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Greece
