| HF.36 | |
|---|---|
| Role | Fighter |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Farman |
| Designer | Henri Farman |
| First flight | July 1916 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Henri Farman HF.36 (sometimes identified simply as the Farman F.36) was a prototype French fighter aircraft built by Farman during the First World War. [1] [2] [3] An unusual design, especially for Farman, it had a troubled development and was not selected for French Army service. [2] [3]
The HF.36 was a two-bay, unstaggered sesquiplane of overall conventional configuration that seated the pilot and gunner in tandem, open cockpits. [3] However, in an era when aircraft were built mostly of wood and fabric, the HF.36 was unusual in being of metal construction. [2] [3] Although its tailskid undercarriage was the norm for its day, its quadricycle main undercarriage was not. [2] [3] Finally, while biplane fuselages are usually attached to the lower wing, and the upper wing is carried on struts about the fuselage, the HF.36 reversed this pattern, with a fuselage suspended from the upper wing, with the lower wing braced beneath it. [2] The tail unit was of conventional design. [2] [3] Although tractor-engined designs were not unusual by this time, the design nevertheless represented a departure for Farman, a firm which had previously produced mostly pusher designs. [3]
The first flight was in July 1916, [4] but serious problems were found. [3] A series of modifications were unable to overcome its deficiencies, and development was abandoned with only one prototype built. [2] [3]
Data from Liron 1984, p.46
General characteristics
Performance