BAT F.K.26

The BAT F.K.26 was a British single-engined four-passenger biplane transport aircraft produced by British Aerial Transport Company Limited of London at the end of World War I.

Design and development

As the First World War drew to a close the aircraft designer Frederick Koolhoven designed a civil four-passenger wooden and fabric civil transport, the F.K.26. The four passengers had an enclosed cabin and the pilot sat above and behind the cabin in an open cockpit. The prototype (Registered K-102) first flew in April 1919. The second aircraft was displayed at the First Air Traffic Exhibition in Amsterdam in July 1919. The third machine (also known as the BAT Commercial Mk 1) was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in July 1920. The fourth aircraft (Registered G-EAPK), built in November 1919, was the last aircraft produced by the British Aerial Transport Company (BAT). G-EAPK was sold to Instone Air Line and was based at Croydon Airport for charter work and scheduled services to Paris.

When the company closed, Koolhoven returned to Netherlands. He later bought G-EEAI (the prototype) and exhibited it at the 1937 Netherlands Aero Show.

Operators

• Instone Air Line operated 1 aircraft.

References

• Grey, C.G. (1969). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1919. Facsimile ed. David & Charles (Publishing) Limited. pp. 87a to 90a. ISBN 978-0-7153-4647-1.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing.
• Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-10006-9.
• L'Année Aéronautique: 1919-1920. Paris: Dunod. 1920. p. 37.

External links

• BAT F.K.26 – British Aircraft Directory
• Koolhoven Aeroplanes Foundation – World's first airliner
• "The B.A.T. Four-Seater Biplane". Flight. XI (16): 494–498. 17 April 1919. No. 538. Retrieved 12 January 2011. Contemporary technical description with drawings.