The FBA 17 was a training

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

produced in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the 1920s.

Design and development

Similar in general layout to the aircraft that FBA had produced during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the Type 17 was a conventional two-bay

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

with unequal-span, unstaggered wings and side-by-side open cockpits. The

pusher engine A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grad ...

was mounted on struts in the interplane gap. Apart from their use by the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

, a small number were sold to the Polish Navy, the

Brazilian Air Force "Wings that protect the country" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Hino dos Aviadores , mascot = , anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...

, and civil operators as well. Some versions were built as amphibians, and others had fittings to allow them to be catapulted from warships. In 1931, the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...

purchased an example for evaluation, and being pleased with the design, arranged for the type to be built under licence by the

Viking Flying Boat Company Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. Six aircraft were eventually produced and served with the Coast Guard under the designation OO until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Variants

;17 HE.2:(''Hydravion d'École'') 2-seat trainer,

Hispano-Suiza 8A The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8A ...

-powered, (over 300 built). ;17 HL.1:(''Hydravion de Liaison) 1-seat catapulatable liaison aircraft,

-powered, (1 built) ;17 HL.2:2-seat catapultable liaison aircraft,

-powered, (10 built) ;17 HMT.2 FBA_17_HMT-2_L'Aéronautique_December,1926

:(''Hydravion Mixte de Transport'') 2-seat amphibious transport aircraft,

-powered, (37 built) :A FBA-17HMT2 plane called ''Lubliniak'', was bought by the

Airborne and Antigas Defence League Air and Chemical Defense League (Polish: ''Liga Obrony Powietrznej i Przeciwgazowej'', ''L.O.P.P.'') was a mass Poland, Polish paramilitary organization, founded in 1928 as a result of the merger of the ''State Air Defense League'' (Polish: ''Lig ...

(LOPP) with was funds donated by the readers of ''Głos Lubelski'', for use in propaganda flights across central and eastern Poland. ;17 HMB.2:17 HMT 2s already in service with the French Navy, were redesignated HMB 2, after being fitted with a bomb rack on the port side of the hull. ;17 HMT.4:4-seat amphibious transport aircraft,

-powered, (2 built) ;17 HT.4:(''Hydravion de Transport'') 4-seat transport aircraft,

-powered, (35 built) ;171 HE.2:2-seat trainer, Lorraine Mizar-powered, (1 built). ;172 HE.2:2-seat trainer,

Gnome et Rhône 5B The Bristol Titan was a British five-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the late 1920s. It had the same size cylinders as the earlier Bristol Mercury engine, (displacing ), and produced ...

-powered, (5 built). ;172 HMT.2:2-seat amphibious transport aircraft,

-powered, (1 built). ;172 HT.4:4-seat transport aircraft,

-powered, (1 built). ;172/2:The HT.4 was redesignated Type 172/2,

-powered, after it was fitted with extra fuel tanks. ;Viking V-2:French-built HT.4s converted to 2-seaters (4 converted) ;Viking OO-1:longer-span,

Wright R-760 The Wright R-760 Whirlwind was a series of seven-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by the Wright Aeronautical division of Curtiss-Wright. These engines had a displacement of 756 in³ (12.4 L) and power ratings of 225-350 ...

-powered version of V-2 produced for USCG (5 built)

Operators

; *

Brazilian Air Force "Wings that protect the country" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Hino dos Aviadores , mascot = , anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...

Brazilian Naval Aviation Brazilian Naval Aviation ( pt, Aviação Naval Brasileira; AvN) is the air arm of the Brazilian Navy operating from ships and from shore installations. History The Brazilian Naval Aviation branch was organized in August 1916, after creation of ...

; *

; * Polish Navy ; *

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

;

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Specifications (17 HE.2)

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{USN observation aircraft 1920s French military trainer aircraft Flying boats FBA aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1923