The Farman HF.20 and its derivatives were a family of reconnaissance aircraft produced in France shortly before and during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was a refined version of the Farman MF.11 "Shorthorn" that did away with the type's distinctive landing skids, and incorporated design features from

Henri Farman Henri Farman (26 May 1874 – 17 July 1958) was a British-French aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer with his brother Maurice Farman. Before dedicating himself to aviation he gained fame as a sportsman, specifically in cycling and mo ...

's designs. It entered service with the French, Belgian and Serbian armies in 1913 (two aircraft conducted reconnaissance during the

Siege of Scutari A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...

and one crashed), and with the British RFC and

RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps ...

shortly after the outbreak of war. The type was also licence-built in the UK by

Airco The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Airc ...

and

Grahame-White Grahame-White was an early British aircraft manufacturer, flying school and later manufacturer of cyclecars. The company was established as ''Grahame-White Aviation Company'' by Claude Grahame-White at Hendon in 1911. The firm built mostly aircra ...

. The HF.20 was seriously underpowered, and a variety of engines were trialled in the hope of correcting this, none with much success. The problem was eventually solved only when an engine of twice the power of the original powerplant was fitted to the HF.27 variant, by which time the aircraft was already obsolete. Nevertheless, the performance of the HF.20 made it adequate for use on secondary fronts.

Variants

;HF.20: original version with

Gnome Lambda The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several World War I-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its capacity of alt ...

engine ;HF.21: span and increased wing area version with

engine. At least one of the few built, entered service with the Fliegertruppe of Switzerland. ;HF.22: span and increased wing area version with Gnome Lambda engine. ;HF.22 floatplane: (aka HF.22bis or Savoia-built HF.22-H) ;HF.23: span version with Gnome Lambda engine ;HF.24: span aerobatic version with Gnome Lambda engine ;HF.27: Canton-Unné R9 engine or

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

engine with a revised undercarriage that included nose wheels similar to the

Voisin III The Voisin III was a French World War I two-seat pusher biplane multi-purpose aircraft developed by Voisin in 1914 as a more powerful version of the 1912 Voisin L. It is notable for being the aircraft used for the first successful shooting down ...

Operators

; *

Argentine Air Force The Argentine Air Force (, or simply ''FAA'') is the air force of Argentina and one of three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. In 2018, it had 13,837 military and 6,900 civilian personnel. FAA commander in chief is Brigadie ...

; *

Belgian Air Force The Belgian Air and Space Component (, ) is the Air force, air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force (; ). It was founded in 1909 and is one of the world's oldest air services. ...

; *

Royal Danish Air Force The Royal Danish Air Force () (RDAF) is the aerial warfare force of the Kingdom of Denmark and one of the four branches of the Danish Armed Forces. Initially being components of the Army and the Navy, it was made a separate service in 1950. I ...

; *

Aéronautique Militaire The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

: Escadrille HF 1 : Escadrille HF 7 : Escadrille HF 13 :

Escadrille HF 19 A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, naval air service, or army air corps; and is usually subordinate to a larger squadron. A military aircraft flight is typically composed of four aircraft, though ...

Escadrille HF 28 A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, naval air service, or army air corps; and is usually subordinate to a larger squadron. A military aircraft flight is typically composed of four aircraft, though ...

Escadrille HF 32 A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, Naval aviation, naval air service, or Army aviation, army air corps; and is usually subordinate to a larger Squadron (aviation), squadron. A military aircraft fligh ...

; *

Royal Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence. ...

; *

Corpo Aeronautico Militare The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Aviation Corps) was formed as part of the Regio Esercito (Royal Army) on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballon ...

; *

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The (IJNAS) was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired its first aircraft in ...

; *

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

; *

Romanian Air Corps The Romanian Air Corps or Aviation Corps (RAC) () was the air arm of the Romanian army until the formation of the Romanian Air Force. It was established on 1 April 1913 as the Military Aeronautics Service () and subordinated to the Engineer Insp ...

; *

Imperial Russian Air Service The Imperial Russian Air Service () was an air force founded in 1912 for Russian Empire, Imperial Russia."''12 августа 1912 года приказом по военному ведомству вопросы воздухоплавания ...

; *

Serbian Air Force The Serbian Air Force and Air Defence (), is the air force of Serbia and service branch of the Serbian Armed Forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Serbian airspace, and jointly with the Serbian Army, to protect territ ...

; *

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

- Taken over from the Imperial Russian Air Force. ; *

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( or just ) is the air force Military branch, branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the escalatin ...

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy () is the maritime service branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet (), formally sometimes referred to as the Royal Navy () – as well as marine units, the Amph ...

; *

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (; ; ; ) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the Swiss Army, army and in October 1936 as an independent service. In peaceti ...

; *

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

** No. 2 Squadron RFC ** No. 5 Squadron RFC ** No. 6 Squadron RFC ** No. 10 Squadron RFC ** No. 24 Squadron RFC ** No. 26 Squadron RFC ** No. 30 Squadron RFC ** No. 31 Squadron RFC ** No. 32 Squadron RFC ** No. 64 Squadron RFC *

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...

;

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

* South African Aviation Corps

Specifications (HF.20)

References

Bibliography

* * * Thomas, Andrew. "In the Footsteps of Daedulus: Early Greek Naval Aviation". ''Air Enthusiast'', No. 94, July–August 2001, pp. 8–9.

Variants

Operators

Specifications (HF.20)

References

Bibliography

Further reading