Flight, January 1923

THE PARIS AERO SHOW 1922

H. AND M. FARMAN, BILLANCOURT (SEINE)

   OF the three machines exhibited by Farmans, the most interesting was, perhaps, the little cantilever monoplane two-seater touring 'bus. The large commercial machine, with a power expenditure of 600 h.p. for 8 passengers, would not appear to be very "commercial," and the bomber was of usual design, except that it was built entirely of metal. As, however, the gentleman in charge of the stand flatly refused our representatives permission to make any sketches, the detailed features of the construction could not have been shown in any case.
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   The Farman bomber "B.2," with 370 h.p. Lorraine-Dietrich engine, is a tractor biplane with very deep fuselage, so that the top plane as well as the lower is attached direct to the corners of the body. The pilot is seated in front of the wings, and as the nose is swept down considerably he obtains an excellent view forward. The gunner has a cockpit aft of the top plane, and from this position can fire all around, even forward above the propeller. By descending into the fuselage, he can look through a trap door in the floor, for purposes of bomb-dropping, navigation, etc. Sufficient fuel is carried for 7 hours' flight, and the machine is equipped with, in addition to bombs and machine guns, a very complete set of navigation instruments and wireless, electric lighting, etc.
   One of its most interesting features was that the axle fairing, which was of metal, had in some way been made a conductor of a fairly strong electric current, probably from the electric lights which were always kept burning, and it was one of the jokes of the Salon to get unsuspecting friends to touch the metal, after which they promptly jumped back, looked astonished, and somewhat sheepish, then saw the joke and tried to "have" their friends.
   The main characteristics of the Farman Bomber are as follows :- Length, 10.7 ms. (35 ft. 1 in.); span, 17 ms. (55 ft. 10 ins.); area, 63 sq. ms. (678 sq. ft.); weight empty, 1,360 kgs. (3,000 lbs.); fuel, 420 kgs. (925 lbs.); useful load, 680 kgs. (1,500 lbs.); total loaded weight, 2,400 kgs. (5,280 lbs.); power loading, 14.3 lbs./h.p.; wing loading, 7.8 lbs./sq. ft. No performance figures are available, except that the estimated speed is 185 kms. (115 miles) per hour.
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