Farman HF.30
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.
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.
The basic airframe of the HF.30 was very similar to the earlier and smaller F.20, a two-bay biplane with a shorter lower wing,a long v-shaped tail framework, and similar control surfaces - ailerons on the outer sections of the upper wings, and a single rudder and a high tailplane at the rear. It differed by reviving the raised fuselage position of the 1913 MF.11, positioning the cockpit and engine between the wings rather than mounting them directly on top of the lower wing, and it was the first Farman to adopt the robust v-strut undercarriage that was becoming standard.
It improved on the underpowered F.20 by utilizing the much more potent 150 hp Salmson 9 radial engine,this gave it a top speed of 85-95mph.
At the start of the First World War the Farman type pusher biplane was widely regarded as the best available design for a combat aircraft. The unobstructed position of the cockpit provided a very wide field of fire for a forward-facing gun, not to mention a good view ahead and to the sides for piloting, aerial reconnaissance and artillery spotting. The greater lift of a biplane design enabled the plane to carry a heavier cargo, such as a payload of bombs under the wings. The relatively simple airframe was also seen as suitable for mass production, especially before synchronization gear became widely available, these criteria were enough to outweigh the superior speed and flight performance offered by monoplane designs with a tractor propeller.
Unusually the HF.30 was used exclusively by the Imperial Russian Air Service, and serial production appears to have taken place principally or entirely in Russia.The HF.30 appears to have been produced principally by the Dux Factory in Moscow, although some level of construction seems to have also taken place at several of the other major Russian aircraft factories.
There are sketchy references to the type's involvement in air combat,but it is not clear how far the HF.30 had been deployed before two consecutive developments in 1916 that curtailed its usefulness.The Air Service began to restrict the air superiority role to new high-performance planes equipped with synchronization gears, like the imported Nieuport 11; then, the HF.30 was definitively outclassed in combat by new opponents, beginning with the Albatros D.I fighter and the Albatros C.V scout. Furthermore, the HF.30's "pusher" engine came to be regarded as a large, exposed target from rearward attacks.
The wide availability of the type also meant that it was acquired by other emerging states of Eastern Europe.In 1919, a captured example became the first plane of the Estonian Air Force.
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