F.30A | |
---|---|
Role | Fighter |
National origin | France |
Manufacturer | Farman |
First flight | December 1916 |
Number built | 2 |
The Farman F.30A C2 was a two-seat biplane designed as a fighter in France in 1916 and powered by a single, water-cooled radial engine. It showed poor flight characteristics and only one was built, though it was modified twice. It should not be confused with the similarly named Henry Farman HF.30 of 1915, a completely different aircraft which was used in large numbers by the Imperial Russian Air Service.
The F.30 representing a departure from the pusher configuration with which Farman had previously been associated, adopting what was becoming the more conventional aeroplane design, with the propeller at the front and a continuous streamlined fuselage, first flew in December 1916. [1]
The F.30A was a metal framed biplane with considerable overhang of the upper planes, a fairly common feature of Henry Farman's designs (as in the F.40), though possibly it was not strictly a sesquiplane. The inner part of the wing structure, out to the tips of the lower wing, formed a single bay unit, without stagger and braced by simple parallel interplane struts. These struts continued above the upper surface, with the outer parts of the upper wing wire braced to them. Ailerons were fitted to the outer, upper wings. [1]
The fuselage was mounted between the wings on central struts above and below and was circular in cross-section, tapering towards the tail. The horizontal tail surfaces were rectangular, and the rudder and wide chord fin formed a shallow triangle. There were two cockpits, seating the pilot under the wing and the gunner further aft with a large radiator between them. The 120 kW (160 hp) water-cooled Canton-Unné X-9 radial engine gave the F.30A a short nose. Its simple conventional undercarriage had a single mainwheel on each main leg and radius arm. [1]
By May 1917 the F.30A was undergoing official evaluation by the Service Technique de l'Aéronautique (STAé ) at Villacoublay, where the positioning of the radiator between the two crew was disliked and the handling found to be poor, causing rejection of the aircraft. Farman then modified it by shortening the upper span and using a more powerful engine, another water-cooled radial, the 190 kW (260 hp) Salmson 9Za. They returned to the STAé with the F.30B, which after more test flights, the STAé called for further changes, requiring the wing area to be increased from 34.7 m2 (374 sq ft) to 54 m2 (580 sq ft). Farman did this with an increase of span, the larger upper wing now extending 14 m (46 ft) from tip to tip. Trials of what was now known as the F.30B AR2 resumed at the STAé resumed in early 1918, but by April the lack of both lateral and longitudinal stability caused tests and the aircraft's development to be abandoned. [1]
Data from:French aircraft of the First World War [2]
Data from French aircraft of the First World War, [2] Aviafrance:Farman F.30B, [3] Les avions Farman [1]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
The Farman F 400 was a 1930s French three-seat cabin high-winged monoplane which was designed and built by Farman.
The Farman F.120 were a family of multi-engine monoplane aircraft designed and produced by the French aircraft manufacturer Farman Aviation Works. It was operated in a diverse range of purposes, including as a commercial airliner and as a military bomber aircraft.
The Farman F.190 was a utility aircraft built in France in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane of conventional configuration with a fully enclosed cabin and fixed, tailskid undercarriage. Popular both as a private aircraft and in the air taxi role, some 30 examples were also operated by airlines in France and elsewhere in Europe. Fifteen of these joined Air France's fleet in 1933 from the fleets of the smaller airlines it had absorbed.
The Farman F.200 was a civil utility aircraft produced in France in the 1930s. Derived from the F.190, it featured a revised fuselage that did away with its predecessor's enclosed cabin. Instead, it was a parasol-wing monoplane with open cockpits in tandem for the pilot and one or two passengers. Intended primarily as a trainer, it was also marketed as being suitable as a photographic platform or a mail plane.
The Farman F.300 and F.310 were trimotor monoplane airliners designed and produced by the French aircraft manufacturer Farman Aviation Works.
The Salmson-Moineau S.M.1 A3,, was a French armed three-seat biplane long range reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War designed by René Moineau for the Salmson company.
The Letord Let.5 was probably the most numerous of a family of 3-seat reconnaissance bombers, designed and built in France from 1916, originally to an A3 specification from the STAé.
The Farman NC.470 was a French twin-engined floatplane designed as a crew trainer for the French Navy. It was used in small numbers for both its intended role as a trainer and as a coastal reconnaissance aircraft at the start of World War II.
The Latécoère 4 was a three-engined, 15-passenger biplane built in France in the early 1920s. It proved difficult to fly and was discontinued, though a second machine was completed as the Latécoère 5 bomber.
The Farman F.110 was a French two-seat artillery observation biplane designed and built by the Farman Aviation Works.
The Farman F.480 Alizé was a single engine, two seat, parasol winged monoplane built in France in the mid-1930s. Designed as a tourer and trainer, all Alizés served as training aircraft for government (Republican) forces during the Spanish Civil War.
The Farman F.280 was a three engine, cantilever wing monoplane designed in France as a mail carrier in the early 1930s. Underpowered and slow, only two were built and briefly used.
The Farman FF 65 Sport is a French built light biplane, with a single engine and tandem seats, intended for sport and touring. First flown in 1919, it achieved modest sales at home and abroad in the early 1920s. Two unusual modifications produced a biplane glider and a low aspect ratio parasol wing machine.
The Farman F.90 was a single engine biplane transport, carrying 6 passengers. It was built and developed in France in the early 1920s. Though it had some competition successes, it was not put into production
The Sopwith Admiralty Types 137 and 138 were a pair of single-engine, two-seat naval biplane floatplanes, built to a British Admiralty order in 1914. They were similar in design, but having a more powerful engine the Type 138 was the larger and heavier. They were used in early torpedo dropping experiments in 1914.
The Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C was the first British aircraft designed to drop torpedoes. A single-engine biplane floatplane, it flew in July 1914 but proved unable to lift the design load and was soon abandoned.
The Caudron C.140 was a French tandem cockpit sesquiplane designed in 1928 as a combination of liaison aircraft and observer and gunnery trainer.
The Les Mureaux 3 C.2 and Les Mureaux 4 C.2 were French two seat, parasol winged fighters, flown in 1927-8, which differed only in their engines. They were developed into near identical army co-operation types, the ANF Les Mureaux 130 A.2 and ANF Les Mureaux 131 A.2, in 1929–31.
The Farman F.290 was a 5-seat transport aircraft built in France in the early 1930s.
The Morane-Saulnier TRK was a prototype French bomber built during World War I.