{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} <!-- This article is a part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft. Please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout. --> {{Infobox aircraft |name=Flanders F.4 |image= File:Flanders-F4-1912.jpg |caption= |type=Two-seat military monoplane |national_origin= United Kingdom |manufacturer=Howard Flanders |designer= |first_flight=6 July 1912 |introduction= |retired=1913 |status= |primary_user=Royal Flying Corps |more_users= |produced= |number_built=4 |variants= }}
The '''Flanders F.4''' was a 1910s British experimental military two-seat monoplane aircraft that was designed and built by Howard Flanders as a development of the Flanders F.3.
==Development== Following success with the Flanders F.3 experimental monoplane in the spring of 1912, the British War Office ordered four Flanders monoplanes for use by the newly formed Royal Flying Corps.<ref name="Bruce RFC p. 249">Bruce 1982, p. 249.</ref> The aircraft had the same configuration as the F.3 but was improved with larger cockpits, accommodating a crew of two in tandem, was powered by a 70 hp (52 kW) Renault engine driving a four-bladed propeller<ref name="Bruce RFC pp. 249–0">Bruce 1982, pp. 249–250.</ref> and had other modifications to improve reliability and maintainability. The fixed landing gear of the F.3 was improved with the addition of coil-spring suspension. The first aircraft was flying at Brooklands by 6 July 1912, with all four flown and delivered to the RFC by 2 January 1913. Testing showed the monoplanes flew well,<ref name="Bruce pp. 250–1">Bruce 1982, pp. 250–251.</ref> but following the fatal crashes of a Deperdussin and a Bristol-Coanda Monoplane on 6 and 10 September 1912, the Royal Flying Corps had banned the use of monoplanes and the aircraft were not used, with their engines being removed to power Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2s.<ref name="Bruce RFC pXV">Bruce 1982, p. xv.</ref><ref name="Bruce RFC p. 251">Bruce 1982, p. 251.</ref>
==Operators== ;{{UK}} *Royal Flying Corps
==Specifications (F.4)== {{Aircraft specs |ref=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing |prime units? = imp |crew=Two |length m=<!--9.6--> |length ft=31 |length in=6 |span m=12.34 |span ft=40 |span in=6 |wing area sqm=22.30 |wing area sqft=240 |empty weight kg=612 |empty weight lb=1350 |gross weight kg=839 |gross weight lb=1850 |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Renault 70 hp 8-cylinder Vee piston engine |eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines -->52 |eng1 hp=<!-- prop engines -->70 |max speed kmh=108 |max speed mph=67 }}
==See also== {{aircontent <!-- include as many lines are appropriate. additional lines/entries with carriage return. --> |related=<!-- related developments --> |similar aircraft=<!-- similar or comparable aircraft --> |lists=<!-- related lists --> *List of aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps |see also=<!-- other relevant information -->
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==References== ;Notes {{reflist}} ;Bibliography * Bruce, J.M. ''The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing)''. London:Putnam, 1982. {{ISBN|0-370-30084-X}}. * The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing
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Category:1910s British experimental aircraft F04 Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft Category:Shoulder-wing aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1912