Farman HF.23

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.

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.

Variants

;HF.20: original version with Gnome Lambda engine
;HF.21: 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: span and increased wing area version with Gnome Lambda engine.
;HF.22 floatplane: (aka HF.22bis or Savoia-built HF.22-H)
;HF.23: span version with Gnome Lambda engine
;HF.24: span aerobatic version with Gnome Lambda engine
;HF.27: Canton-Unné R9 engine or Renault engine with a revised undercarriage that included nose wheels similar to the Voisin III.

Operators

;
* Argentine Air Force
;
*Belgian Air Force
;
* Royal Danish Air Force
;
* Aéronautique Militaire
: Escadrille HF 1
: Escadrille HF 7
: Escadrille HF 13
: Escadrille HF 19
: Escadrille HF 28
: Escadrille HF 32
;
* Royal Hellenic Navy
;
* Corpo Aeronautico Militare
;
*Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
;
*Royal Netherlands Air Force
;
* Romanian Air Corps
;
* Imperial Russian Air Service
;
* Serbian Air Force
;
* Soviet Air Force - Taken over from the Imperial Russian Air Force.
;
*Swedish Air Force
*Swedish Navy
;
*Swiss Air Force
;
*Royal Flying Corps
**No. 2 Squadron RFC
**No. 5 Squadron RFC
**No. 6 Squadron RFC
** No. 10 Squadron RFC
**No. 24 Squadron RFC
** No. 26 Squadron RFC
** No. 30 Squadron RFC
** No. 31 Squadron RFC
** No. 32 Squadron RFC
**No. 64 Squadron RAF, No. 64 Squadron RFC
*Royal Naval Air Service
; South Africa, Union of South Africa
*South African Air Force, South African Aviation Corps

Specifications (HF.20)

References

Bibliography

*
*
* Thomas, Andrew. "In the Footsteps of Daedulus: Early Greek Naval Aviation". ''Air Enthusiast'', No. 94, July–August 2001, pp. 8–9.

Further reading

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{{Farman aircraft

Farman aircraft, HF.20
1910s French military trainer aircraft
1910s French military reconnaissance aircraft
Rotary-engined aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Sesquiplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1913