Farman BN.4
Farman BN.4 | |
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Role | Long-range night bomber |
National origin | France |
Manufacturer | Farman |
First flight | March 1922[1] |
Number built | 1 |
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The Farman BN.4, a.k.a. Super Goliath, was a very large 1920s French biplane designed by Farman as a long-range night bomber.[2]
Development
Often known by the military designation BN.4 (Bombardment de Nuit Strategique, 4 places), some sources refer to it as the Super Goliath though that name was also applied to the Farman F.141.[1] It was a four-seat long range night bomber.[2] The company exhibited the BN.4 at the 1921 Paris Salon de l'Aeronautique.[2] The BN.4 was a four-engined three-bay biplane powered by four Lorraine piston engines mounted in tandem pairs on the lower wing.[2] It had a biplane tail unit and a tailskid landing gear with twin-wheel main units.[2] It had provision for a gunner in the nose section and adminships with additional machine guns that fired downwards and to the rear.[2]
By the time the aircraft was test flown a pair of twin nose wheels had been added to stop the aircraft nosing over on soft grass airfields.[2] After the aircraft had performed a number of test flights the military had lost interest in spending on new equipment in the post-war era.[2] A civil version was looked at but it would have been too large and the BN.4 was not ordered into production.[2]
Specifications
Data from [2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Length: 21.40 m (70 ft 2½ in)
- Wingspan: 32.90 m (107 ft 11¼ in)
- Height: 7.35 m (24 ft 1¼ in)
- Wing area: 300 m2 (3229.98 ft2)
- Empty weight: 5500 kg (12,125 lb)
- Gross weight: 10500 kg (23,149 lb)
- Powerplant: 4 × Lorraine 12D V-12 water-cooled piston engines, 276 kW (370 hp) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph)
- Service ceiling: 4500 m (14,765 ft)
Armament
- 5 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns
- up to 2,500 kg (5,512 lb) bombs
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Farman. |
- Notes
- Bibliography
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.
- Liron, J.L. (1984). Les avions Farman. Paris: Éditions Larivère.