Farman BN.4

Farman BN.4
Role	Long-range night bomber
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Farman
First flight	March 1922^[1]
Number built	1

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

1 2 Liron 1984 pp.224-5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Orbis 1985, pp. 1774-1775

Bibliography

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.
Liron, J.L. (1984). Les avions Farman. Paris: Éditions Larivère.

Aircraft produced by Henri Farman, Maurice Farman, and Farman Aviation Works

Henri Farman	HF.6 HF.7 HF.10 HF.14 HF.16 HF.19 HF.20 HF.21 HF.22 HF.23 HF.24 HF.26 HF.27 HF.30 HF.206

Maurice Farman	MF.6 MF.7 MF.8 MF.9 MF.11 MF.16

Freres Farman/ Farman Aviation Works	I II III A.2 B.2 BN.4 F.3X F.4X F.21 F.30 F.31 F.40 F.41 F.50 (Landplane) F.50 (Flying Boat) F.51 F.56 F.60 F.60 Goliath F.63 Goliath FF.65 Sport Moustique F.70 F.73 F.80 F.110 F.120 F.130 F.140 F.150 F.160 F.162 F.166 F.167 F.168 F.169 F.170 F.180 F.190 F.200 F.209 F.211 F.220 F.230 F.250 F.270 F.280 F.290 F.300 F.310 F.350 F.360 F.370 F.380 F.390 F.400 F.410 F.420 F.430 F.450 F.455 F.460 F.470 F.480 F.500 F.510 F.520 F.1000 F.1010 F.1020

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