Farman F.120

The Farman F.121 Jabiru was a four-engine passenger aircraft that was designed and built in the 1920s in France.

History

The Farman F.121, the prototype of which was known as the Farman F.3X was constructed for the Grand Prix of Aviation transport of 1923. The aircraft was powered by four Hispano- Suiza 8 Ac motors, which were housed in tandem gondolas on stub wings.

In 1925, the three-engined variant F.4X, which was driven by three unclad AZ.9 Salmson radial engines. The engines, which each had 224 kW, were in the upper fuselage nose and mounted on stub wings. The pilot sat in an open cockpit behind the central engine. In contrast to the Farman F.3X that was designed for 9 passengers, the Farman F.4X could only carry 6 passengers.

In the period from 1924 to 1926 seven F.3X passenger aircraft were built, which now carried the name Farman F.121 Jabiru. The prototype was a modified cooling system and the name F.121a. Two other machines were built in Denmark under license.

According to the concept of the Farman F.121 Farman F.123 was the prototype of a bomb aircraft. As a drive but only two Hispano-Suiza engine with a power of 450 hp ( 336 kW) were installed. The armament consisted of an internal bomb bay and machine gun stands in the front and in the back. The machine was a single piece.

There was another prototype built as Farman F.124. The aircraft was similar to the Farman F.123. The drive served two motors of type Gnome -Rhône Jupiter, each with 420 hp (313 kW). Also, this aircraft was still at the trial stage also.

Construction

The hull was built in mixed construction made ​​of wood and metal. The fuselage nose were two passenger seats and a lying behind a single seat. Then followed a cabin with six seats. The open cockpit was in the region of the supporting surface on the hull.

The aircraft was designed as a strutted high-wing aircraft. The wings were made of wood and had a great depth and a maximum thickness of 0.76 m. There were two stub wing, who recorded the engine and landing gear on the fuselage underside. The tail was made of wood and was carried out in normal construction. The aircraft had a rigid chassis with tailwheel.

Use

The four F.4X participated in the first months of the year 1925 on the service line. One of them opened the Ligne - Farman - route from Paris to Zurich. However, the performance was insufficient and after two losses, the two remaining machines were taken in 1925 from the service line.

A Farman F.121 was handed over for testing purposes to the Section Technique de l' Aéronautique ( STAE ). The machine was later sold. Farman himself sat a four machines on the Paris -Brussels and Paris- Amsterdam. The two remaining machines went to the Det Danske Luftfartselskab (DDL) and were used together with the two machine license on the Copenhagen- Hamburg and Copenhagen - Cologne. The last aircraft were scrapped in 1931.

Specifications

Airlines

  • France France Ligne - Farman
  • Denmark Denmark Det Danske Luftfartselskab
326639
de