Farman MF.11

Last updated
Farman MF.11
Farman Shorthorn MF11.jpg
RoleReconnaissance / Bomber
Manufacturer Farman Aviation Works
Designer Maurice Farman
First flight1913
IntroductionMay 1914
Primary users French Air Force
Royal Flying Corps

The Maurice Farman MF.11 Shorthorn is a French aircraft developed before World War I by the Farman Aviation Works. It was used as a reconnaissance and light bomber during the early part of World War I, later being relegated to training duties.

Contents

The Maurice Farman Shorthorn was the aircraft in which Biggles, Capt W.E. Johns' fictional character, first took to the air in "Biggles Learns To Fly".

Design and development

A pusher configuration unequal-span biplane like the earlier Farman MF.7, the MF.11 differed in lacking the forward-mounted elevator, the replacement of the biplane horizontal tail surfaces with a single surface with a pair of rudders mounted above it, and the mounting of the nacelle containing crew and engine in the gap between the two wings. The aircraft was also fitted with a machine gun for the observer, whose position was changed from the rear seat to the front in order to give a clear field of fire.

Its nickname in British service was derived from that of the MF.7 Longhorn, as it lacked the characteristic front-mounted elevator and elongated skids of its predecessor.

Operational history

Reconnaissance version of the MF.11 with camera detail MF11 WW1 aircraft reco.jpg
Reconnaissance version of the MF.11 with camera detail
Italian air force MF.11 WWI - Second Battle of the Isonzo - Farman MF.11 Shorthorn light bomber of the Italian air force.jpg
Italian air force MF.11

On 6 September 1914 the first air-sea battle took place when a Japanese Farman MF.11 aircraft launched by the seaplane carrier Wakamiya unsuccessfully attacked SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth with bombs. [1]

The MF.11 served in both the British and French air services on the Western Front in the early stages of the war. It flew the first bombing raid of the war when on 21 December 1914 an MF.11 of the Royal Naval Air Service attacked German artillery positions around Ostend, Belgium.

The MF.11 was withdrawn from front-line service on the Western Front in 1915, but continued to be used by the French in Macedonia and the Middle East, while the British also used it in the Dardanelles, and Africa. The Australian Flying Corps (AFC), provided with the MF.11 by the British Indian Army, operated it during the Mesopotamian campaign of 191516.

Italy's Società Italiana Aviazione, a Fiat company, licence-built a number of MF.11s under the designation SIA 5 from early 1915, fitted with a fixed forward machine gun and a 74.5 kW (100 hp) Fiat A.10 engine. [2]

In 1916, the AFC also bought some MF.11s for training purposes.

Operators

Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
Flag of France (1794-1958).svg  France
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg  Italy
Flag of Greece (1822-1978).svg  Greece
Flag of Hejaz (1920).svg  Kingdom of Hejaz
Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg  Japan
Flag of Norway.svg  Norway
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia
State Flag of Serbia (1882-1918).svg  Serbia
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Belgian Air Force Farman F-11 A.2 in the Brussels War Museum in July 1965 Farman F11-A2 BRU War Msm 26.07.65 edited-3.jpg
Belgian Air Force Farman F-11 A.2 in the Brussels War Museum in July 1965

Surviving aircraft

Specifications (Farman MF.11)

Data from Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft [5]

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

See also

Related development

Related lists

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sopwith Camel</span> British WW1 biplane fighter aircraft

The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War-era single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the best known fighter aircraft of the Great War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sopwith Pup</span> British WW1 biplane fighter aircraft

The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful. The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917. The remaining Pups were relegated to Home Defence and training units. The Pup's docile flying characteristics also made it ideal for use in aircraft carrier deck landing and takeoff experiments and training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2</span> 1912 military aircraft family by the Royal Aircraft Factory

The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 is a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane, designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including established aircraft manufacturers and firms new to aircraft construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2</span> Type of aircraft

Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sopwith 1½ Strutter</span> British WW1 biplane fighter, bomber and reconnaissance aircraft

The Sopwith 1+12 Strutter is a British single- or two-seat multi-role biplane aircraft of the First World War. It was the first British two-seat tractor fighter and the first British aircraft to enter service with a synchronised machine gun. It was given the name 1+12 Strutter because of the long and short cabane struts that supported the top wing. The type was operated by both British air services and was in widespread but lacklustre service with the French Aéronautique Militaire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vickers F.B.5</span> Fighter aircraft; first operational purpose-built fighter

The Vickers F.B.5 was a British two-seat pusher military biplane of the First World War. Armed with a single .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun operated by the observer in the front of the nacelle, it was the first aircraft purpose-built for air-to-air combat to see service, making it the world's first operational fighter aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Flying Corps</span> Aerial warfare branch of the Australian Army (1912-1920)

The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was the branch of the Australian Army responsible for operating aircraft during World War I, and the forerunner of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The AFC was established in 1912, though it was not until 1914 that it began flight training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voisin III</span> French WW1 bomber aircraft

The Voisin III was a French World War I two-seat pusher biplane multi-purpose aircraft developed by Voisin in 1914 as a more powerful version of the 1912 Voisin I. It is notable for being the aircraft used for the first successful shooting down of an enemy aircraft on October 5, 1914, and to have been used to equip the first dedicated bomber units, in September 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8</span> 1916 utility aircraft by Armstrong Whitworth

The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 was a British two-seat general-purpose biplane built by Armstrong Whitworth during the First World War. The type served alongside the better known R.E.8 until the end of the war, at which point 694 F.K.8s remained on RAF charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caudron G.3</span> Type of aircraft

The Caudron G.3 was a single-engined French sesquiplane built by Caudron, widely used in World War I as a reconnaissance aircraft and trainer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airco DH.1</span> Type of aircraft

The Airco DH.1 was an early military biplane of typical "Farman" pattern flown by Britain's Royal Flying Corps during World War I. By the time the powerplant for which it was designed was sufficiently plentiful it was obsolete as an operational aircraft, and apart from a few examples sent to the Middle East it served as a trainer and Home Defence fighter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airco DH.6</span> Type of aircraft

The Airco DH.6 was a British military trainer biplane used by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Known by various nicknames, including the "Clutching hand" and "Skyhook", many survived to be used as a civil light aircraft in the postwar era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12</span> Type of aircraft

The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12 was a British single-seat aeroplane of The First World War designed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. It was essentially a single-seat version of the B.E.2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman MF.7</span> French pre-WW1 reconnaissance aircraft

The Maurice Farman MF.7 Longhorn is a French biplane developed before World War I which was used for reconnaissance by both the French and British air services in the early stages of the war before being relegated to service as a trainer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8</span> Type of aircraft

The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 was a British single-seat fighter of the First World War designed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. It could not escape the drag penalty imposed by its tail structure and was no match for the Albatros fighters of late 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman F.40</span> French WW1 reconnaissance aircraft

The Farman F.40 was a French pusher biplane reconnaissance aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman HF.20</span> French WW1 reconnaissance aircraft

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, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renault 70 hp</span>

The Renault 70 hp, was a French V-8 aero engine that first ran in 1910. The type powered many early military aircraft including the Farman MF.7 Longhorn and the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2. In addition to French production, these engines were also built in the United Kingdom and equipped the majority of British aircraft sent to France at the start of WW1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman HF.30</span> Biplane model

The Henry Farman HF.30 was a two-seat military biplane designed in France around 1915, which became a principal aircraft of the Imperial Russian Air Service during the First World War. Although it was widely used on the Eastern Front, and by the factions and governments that emerged in the subsequent Russian Civil War, it is not well known outside that context: the HF.30 was not adopted by other Allied air forces, and the manufacturers reused the "Farman F.30" designation for the Farman F.30 in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nieuport 16</span> French WW1 fighter aircraft

The Nieuport 16 C.1 was a French World War I single-seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft, designed by Gustave Delage as a development of the Nieuport 11 with a more powerful engine. The Nieuport 16's service life coincided with the period when the first air-to-air rockets, the Le Prieur rocket, were used most frequently, and the type has a closer association with them than any other aircraft.

References

  1. Donko, Wilhelm M.: „Österreichs Kriegsmarine in Fernost: Alle Fahrten von Schiffen der k.(u.)k. Kriegsmarine nach Ostasien, Australien und Ozeanien von 1820 bis 1914“ (epubli, Berlin, 2013) - Page 4, 156-162, 427.
  2. Taylor, Michael J H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. pg 805. Portland House, 1989. ISBN   0-517-69186-8
  3. "Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn". Canada Aviation and Space Museum. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  4. "Maurice Farman Shorthorn CFS-20". RAAF Museum Point Cook. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  5. Jackson, Robert, The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, Paragon, 2002. ISBN   0-7525-8130-9

Bibliography