Farman Blanchard

The Farman Blanchard was a prototype naval torpedo bomber built in France in the early 1920s but not selected for production.^[1][2] It is designated the Farman F.450 Torp in at least one source^[2] (not to be confused with the unrelated Farman F.450 Moustique^[3]). It was designed by Maurice Blanchard, after whom it was named.^[1][2][3]

The Blanchard was a two-bay, unstaggered, equal-span biplane of conventional configuration.^[1][4] The pilot and observer sat in tandem, open cockpits.^[1][4] Power was supplied by a piston engine in the nose, driving a tractor propeller.^[1][4] It had fixed, tailskid undercarriage,^[1][4] and a conventional tail.^[4] It carried its torpedo semi-recessed into the underside of the fuselage.^[1][4] Construction was of wood throughout.^[1][4]

It was intended to operate from land or from aircraft carriers.^[1][2]

The Blanchard was exhibited at the 1921 Paris Aero Show where a Flight reporter commented on its large wings making it less suitable for shipboard use than the British torpedo bombers of the time.^[4] The Blanchard first flew in 1923,^[2] but was passed over for production in favour of the Levasseur PL.2.^[1][2][3] No further examples were built.^[1][2]

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft 1983, p.1735

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 12.00 m (39 ft 4 in)
• Wingspan: 18.00 m (59 ft 1 in)
• Height: 4.60 m (15 ft 1 in)
• Wing area: 100.00 m² (1,076.4 sq ft)
• Max takeoff weight: 2,950 kg (6,504 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Renault liquid-cooled, twelve-cylinder V engine, 340 kW (450 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 145 km/h (90 mph, 78 kn)
• Service ceiling: 6,000 m (20,000 ft)

Armament
2× 7.7-millimetre (0.30 in) machine guns
1× torpedo

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing.
• Liron, Jean (1984). Les Avions Farman [The Farman Aeroplanes] (in French). Paris: Éditions Larivière.
• "The Paris Aero Show 1921". Flight. Vol. 13, no. 48. 1 December 1921. pp. 796–800.