FBA Type H

{{Short description|French reconnaissance flying boat}}  {{Infobox aircraft | name = Type H | logo = | logo_size = | image = Schreck FBA.4 Type H 5.160 BAF BRU Msm 14.04.00R edited-2.jpg | alt = | caption = FBA Type H flying boat on display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History, Brussels, Belgium | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = Reconnaissance flying boat | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = | manufacturer = FBA | design_group = | designer = Louis Schreck | builder = | issuer = | status = one example preserved | owners = | primary_user = | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = ca. 2000 | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = 1916 | retired = | first_flight = 1915 | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = | variants = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded = }}

The '''FBA Type H''' was a French reconnaissance flying boat produced in large numbers in France and Italy during World War I by Franco-British Aviation.<ref name=Taylor>{{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |pages=381–2 }}</ref>

==Design and development==

A development of the FBA Type A, the Type H shared the same basic pusher biplane configuration, but was a larger and heavier machine based on a Donnet-Lévêque design and powered by a water-cooled engine in place of the earlier type's rotary. Most French-built Type H aircraft had water-cooled V-8 Hispano-Suiza 8A variants with powers of {{cvt|150|or|170|hp}}, though a minority had {{cvt|160|hp}} Lorraine 8Ns.<ref name=Taylor/> Some Italian built Type Hs also used the higher-power Hispano motor but more had {{cvt|180|hp}} Isotta Fraschini V.4B or {{cvt|150|hp}} engines of the same make,<ref name=Taylor/> both six-cylinder inlines.<ref name=Gunston>{{cite book |title= World Encyclopaedia of Aero Engines|last=Gunston|first=Bill|edition=2| year=1989|publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |location=Wellingborough |isbn=1-85260-163-9|page=82}}</ref>

The aircraft was a two bay biplane with the smaller span lower wing positioned just above the central fuselage on four supporting struts. There was no stagger and simple parallel interplane struts separated the bays; an extra, outward leaning pair supported the overhanging upper plane on each side. Ailerons were mounted only on this upper wing. The single pusher engine was mounted on struts just below the upper wing, its two blade propeller turning in a cut-out in the wing trailing edges.<ref name=Taylor/><ref name = Flight1>{{cite magazine|date=24 November 1932 |title=From other lands|magazine=Flight|volume=X|issue=15|pages=401–2|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1918/1918%20-%200404.html}}</ref>

The hull of the Type H was, like that of its predecessors, a single step design. A pair of flat bottomed floats, mounted below the outer interplane struts, stabilized the aircraft on the water. Two flight crew members were accommodated side-by-side and a front gunner sat separately in the nose.<ref name=Taylor/> The rounded, finless rudder mounted above the high tailplane distinguished the Type H from earlier FBA flying boats, which had angular vertical tails.<ref name=Flight1/><ref name=Opdycke>{{cite book |title=French aeroplanes before the Great War |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchaeroplanes00opdy |url-access=limited |last=Opdycke |first=Leonard E. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/frenchaeroplanes00opdy/page/n130 132]–3, 208–9|year=1999|publisher=Shiffer Publishing Ltd|location=Atglen, PA, USA |isbn=0-7643-0752-5|author-link=Leonard E. Opdycke}}</ref>

==Production== Aside from its production in France, the type was also built extensively under licence in Italy by several firms, most importantly by SIAI.

==Variants== ;Type D:One Type H was built as a fighter aircraft to class D specifications, equipped with a {{convert|37|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} Hotchkiss gun and powered by a {{cvt|150|hp}} Hispano-Suiza 8A or {{cvt|175|hp}} Hispano-Suiza 8Aa. Although this was a landplane, its fuselage retained its basic flying boat form. '''Avion Cannon''' was its common name, though was also called the '''FBA 1 Ca2''', or '''Type D cannon fighter'''.<ref name=Green>{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=William |first2= Gordon|last2= Swanborough |title=The Complete Book of Fighters |date=1994|publisher=Salamander Books|location=Godalming, UK|isbn=1-85833-777-1|page=202}}</ref><ref name="Davillap264">{{cite book |last1=Davilla |first1=Dr. James J. |last2=Soltan |first2=Arthur M. |title=French aircraft of the First World War |date=January 2002 |publisher=Flying Machines Press |isbn=1891268090 |page=264}}</ref> ;Type S:The ''Aviation Maritime'' issued a Type S specification for a light patrol bomber to be powered by a {{cvt|200|hp}} Hispano-Suiza 8Bb or {{cvt|210|hp}} Hispano-Suiza 8Bbd. Schreck modified a Type H with larger folding wings and longer hull. Entering service in 1917 the Type S flying boats remained in service until 1923, until replaced by Latham and Blanchard flying boats.<ref name="Davillap262">{{cite book |last1=Davilla |first1=Dr. James J. |last2=Soltan |first2=Arthur M. |title=French aircraft of the First World War |date=January 2002 |publisher=Flying Machines Press |isbn=1891268090 |page=262}}</ref>

==Operational history==

The Type H was the major production version of the FBA series and was operated by several air arms during the latter part of the First World War. The great majority served with French and Italian forces.<ref name=Taylor/> The ''Escadrille des Hydroavions'' (Seaplane Squadron) of the Belgian Air Force was also equipped with the type and one survives on display in the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History in central Brussels.<ref name=Ogden>{{cite book|last=Ogden|first=Bob|title=Aviation Museums and Collections of Mainland Europe|year=2006|publisher=Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd|isbn=0-85130-375-7 |page=29}}</ref> The British Royal Navy used four ex-Italian Type Hs powered by Isotta Fraschini engines as training machines.<ref name=Thetford>{{cite book |title= British Naval Aircraft 1912-58|last=Thetford|first=Owen| year=1958|publisher=Putnam Publishing |location=London |page=365}}</ref><ref name=Robertson>{{cite book |title= British Military Aircraft Serials 1878-1987|last=Robertson|first=Bruce| year=1979|edition= 5th|publisher=Midland Counties Publications |location=Leicester |isbn=0-904597-61-X|page=103}}</ref>

From 1926 to at least 1929 twelve FBA Hs were used in Canada by the ''Compagnie Aerienne Franco Canadienne'' to make an aerial photographic survey of both cities and countryside.<ref name=Flight2>{{cite magazine|date=27 September 1929|title=Mapping the great open spaces of the "New France"|magazine=Flight|volume=XXI|issue=39|pages=1049–51|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%201192.html}}</ref>

==Operators== right|thumb ;{{BEL}} *Belgian Air Force - Five aircraft ;{{EST}} *Estonian Air Force - One aircraft ;{{FRA}} *French Navy ;{{flag|Kingdom of Italy}} * Corpo Aeronautico Militare 962 aircraft ;{{flag|Peru}} *Peruvian Air Force - Three aircraft ;{{flag|Serbia}} *Serbian Air Force and Air Defence - Three aircraft ;{{ESP}} *Spanish Air Force ;{{UK}} *Royal Naval Air Service - Four aircraft ;{{USA}} *United States Navy ;{{flag|Uruguay}} *Uruguayan Air Force - One aircraft ;{{flag|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}} *Yugoslav Royal Navy

==Specifications (Hispano 8A)== {{Aircraft specs |ref=French aircraft of the First World War<ref name="Davilla">{{cite book |last1=Davilla |first1=Dr. James J. |last2=Soltan |first2=Arthur M. |title=French aircraft of the First World War |date=January 2002 |publisher=Flying Machines Press |isbn=1891268090 |pages=260–262}}</ref> |prime units?=met  |crew=Three, pilot and two observers/gunners |capacity= |length m=9.92 |span m=14.12 |height m=3.1 |wing area sqm=40 |aspect ratio= |airfoil= |empty weight kg=984 |gross weight kg=1420 |max takeoff weight kg= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity= |more general=  |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Hispano-Suiza 8A |eng1 type=V-8 water-cooled piston engine |eng1 hp=150

|more performance=  |guns=1 × {{cvt|0.303|in|order=flip}} Lewis gun fixed to fuselage, or mounted on post in nose cockpit |bombs={{cvt|200|kg}} of bombs }}

==See also== {{aircontent  |see also= |related= * FBA Type A |similar aircraft= * Donnet-Denhaut flying boat * Lohner L |lists= * List of maritime patrol aircraft * List of flying boats and floatplanes * List of World War I Entente aircraft }}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Gerdessen, Frederik. "Estonian Air Power 1918 – 1945". ''Air Enthusiast'', No. 18, April – July 1982. pp. 61–76. {{ISSN|0143-5450}}. * {{cite journal |last1=Isaic|first1=Vladimir|title=Les hydravions FBA-H en Yugoslavie |journal=Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire |date=August 1994 |issue=18 |pages=10–11 |trans-title=Yugoslav FBA-H Flying Boats |language=fr |issn=1243-8650}}

==External links== {{Commons category|FBA Type H}} * [http://www.airwar.ru/enc/flyboat/fbah.html Уголок неба] * [http://www.aviafrance.com/3570.htm aviafrance.com]

Category:1910s French patrol aircraft Category:Flying boats Category:FBA aircraft Category:Single-engined pusher aircraft Category:Biplanes Category:Aircraft first flown in 1915