The Farman F.420 was a twin engine
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
, built in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
in the mid-1930s to compete in a government contest for an aircraft capable of fulfilling
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
,
fighter and
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
roles. Two prototypes were constructed but no production followed.
Design and development
In August 1933 the French Air Ministry issued a call for prototypes of a multirole class of aircraft, likely to be ordered in large numbers. The intention was to produce a machine which was competitive as a fighter, bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, so the class was known as BCR for ''de bombardement, de combat et de reconnaissance''. An alternative description was ''Multiplace de Combat''. Eight or nine manufacturers responded with an aircraft: the F.420 was Farman's candidate.
It was a wooden
high wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
twin engine aircraft. The
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
wing had a parallel chord centre section in which fuel was carried and trapezoidal outer sections. The 740 hp (550 kW)
Gnôme-Rhône 14 Kdrs radial engines, fitted with long-chord
cowling
A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...
s, were mounted to the underside of the wing in long housings, into which the main undercarriage members, each with a single mainwheel, retracted. The F.420 had a
conventional undercarriage with a small
tailwheel
Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...
. There was a single fin and a braced tailplane set on top of the fuselage.
The fuselage was rectangular in cross-section, with a glazed cockpit just forward of the leading edge of the wing. Further forward the fuselage top and bottom remained flat and parallel, with the nose enclosed by full depth, single curvature glazing with positions for a gunner/ bomb aimer. There were two other
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
positions, one
ventral
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
, one
dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
* Dorsal c ...
; the bomb load, depending on the distance of the target, was between 1000 kg and 1,400 kg (2,200-3,090 lb).
The F.420 flew for the first time on 18 June 1934, piloted by André Salel accompanied by the engineer Roger Robin. During its second flight, with the same crew, fire broke out in the wing, started by an engine exhaust. When flames spread to the fuselage, the two men attempted to bail out, only to find that the side door in the fuselage was too narrow to allow escape whilst wearing parachute packs; both died in the crash.
Farman funded a second F.420 which had prominent exhaust pipes from the tops of the engine housings leading back over the wings, which were locally protected from the heat by a metal covering. The nose was also reworked, incorporating a new turret and a large escape hatch. This aircraft was test flown at
Villacoublay by an Air Ministry pilot in 1935 but did not win a production contract.
Specifications
See also
References
Bibliography
*
{{Farman aircraft
1930s French military aircraft
F.420
High-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1934
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft