The FBA 19 was a flying boat

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

developed in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1924 by

Franco-British Aviation Franco-British Aviation (usually known by its initials FBA) was an aircraft manufacturer of the early 20th century, headquartered in London and with its production facilities around Paris. Specialising in seaplanes, it was established in 1913 by ...

Design

Similar in configuration to FBA's wartime designs, it was a conventional

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

with open cockpits for the three crewmembers. Unlike the firm's earlier designs, however, the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

was mounted tractor-fashion in a streamlined

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...

mounted in the interplane gap.

Operational history

The prototype set a world altitude record for its class with a 500 kg payload, but despite this performance, the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

did not order it, either in its original form or when it was offered as an amphibian. Another version was built as a commercial transport, but the only example built was sold to Air Union.

Variants

;FBA 19 HB.2: (''Hydravion de Bombardement'') - 2-seat reconnaissance bomber; 9 built. ;FBA 19 HMB.2: (''Hydravion Mixte de Bombardement'') - 2-seat amphibian reconnaissance bomber. ;FBA 19 HMT.3: (''Hydravion Mixte de Transport'') - 3-seat amphibian transport; 1 built.

Operators

; *

Air Union Air Union was a French airline established on 1 January 1923, as the result of a merger between the airlines '' Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes'' and '' Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens''. Air Union was merged with four other French ai ...

; *Nationalist Chinese Navy

Specifications (HB.2)

References

External links

Уголок неба
{{FBA aircraft 1920s French bomber aircraft Flying boats FBA aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes