In the 1930s a series of heavy bombers were built by French Manufacturer Farman.
Though often forgotten, they were able to carry a remarkably heavy payload for the time
and were amongst the heaviest bombers in service at the start of World War 2.
Today we’re going to take a look at the series as a whole, as it can be considered
one long continuation of a single design…and also because the record keeping for this aircraft
in the 1930s was about as chaotic as the French government.
In 1929, at the request of the air staff, a program was drawn up for a four-engine night
bomber – the intention being to replace the Liore and Oliver LeO 20, which had only
entered service the previous year.
This was done in response to a gradual increase in Franco-Italian tension, and although there
was talk of a potential league of nations memorandum that would prohibit large-scale
bombing (an indea that remained in the realm of fantasy), the French weren’t going to
take any chances.
The new bomber program called for an aircraft capable of carrying two tonnes of bombs over
a range of 2,000km.
In typical French fashion for the time, this program would change its requirements almost
as much as the French government changed office, but through the administrative chaos Farman
Aviation works managed to submit a proposal.
Dubbed the F.211, it was a high-wing monoplane of mixed construction.
It was powered by four 300hp Gnome-Rhone radial engines that were suspended beneath the wing
in tandem pairs.
Struts connected them to the wing, and a curious pair wing-like extensions connected them with
the fuselage.
Designed for a crew of four, it would normally have a pilot, co-pilot, a nose gunner who
also acted as bomb aimer, and a rear gunner.
The aircraft made its maiden flight on October the 19th 1931 and in December it was presented
to the Eligibility Committee for testing.
During these tests several problems were noted that made the 211 a poor choice as a heavy
bomber.
The controls -particularly the elevator- were very heavy, the centre of gravity was too
far aft which made landing a somewhat terrifying experience, the wings had insufficient strength
to prevent warping of the material, its range was considerably shorter than predicted ( a
mere 900km), and the aircrafts top speed of 195km/h meant that even with a tailwind it
was woefully slow.
As a result of this the aircraft was extensively modified in 1932.
The front fuselage was lengthened to bring the centre of gravity forward, the wingspan
was increased from 23 meters to 25 meters, the wing itself was strengthened, and the
engines were replaced by supercharged variants that gave 350hp.
The aircraft was then re-designated as the F.212 and presented for testing in February
of 1933.
During these tests it reached a top speed of 250km/h and was able to reach an altitude
of 3500 meters in just 18 minutes.
Though a significant improvement, Farman had realised that their aircraft was too small,
and they abandoned development of the F.212 and began work on the F.220.
Unlike the previous model, the F.220 was of an all-metal construction, with the exception
of the control surfaces.
The fuselage and wings were constructed of a mix of steel tubular frames and girders,
all of which was covered by a stressed metal skin.
It was powered by four Hispano-Suisa engines that put out 600hp, again arranged in tandem
pairs, and these drove four-blade fixed pitch propellers.
In terms of size, it was considerably larger than the 212, having a wingspan of 36 meters
and a maximum loaded weight of 16 tonnes.
With its nose vaguely resembling that of a greenhouse, the 220 took off for the first
time on the 26th of May 1932 and following some modifications to its internal structure
– the details of which are completely unknown, but it was probably to add some sort of wine
rack - it was admitted for testing the following year.
One of these tests involved the unapologetically French requirement of landing 200 times on
the cobbled strip in the town of Istres.
All joking aside, the aircraft was actually lucky to even get there.
On route, flying through the Rhone valley, the aircraft began to experience wing flutter
– and if anyone out there has experienced it first hand, they know how terrifying it
is.
This particular incident became so severe that the pilots were forced to watch in horror
as the wing rivets started breaking free and scattering the French countryside.
With the throttle excessively reduced they were able to just make it to the landing strip
before the airframe disintegrated around them.
Following the incident, the F220 had all of its missing rivets put back in the correct
place along with a set of balancers for the ailerons.
This seemed to mostly fix the fluttering issue, but the aircraft’s image had soured in the
minds of officials and at the conclusion of the endurance tests it was rejected as a bomber.
Without a definite use, in November 1934 it was converted into a long-distance mail carrier
at the request of Air France, with Farman redesignating it as the F.220B.
It was equipped with additional fuel tanks in the place of bombs, though it kept the
balcony-style nose, and it was fitted with new Hispano radiators to improve its long-distance
endurance in hotter climates.
After 333 hours of flight testing ,it received its official certificate of airworthiness
and was renamed “Le Centaure”.
On the 3rd of June 1935, on loan to Air-France from the French government, it made its first
Atlantic crossing from Dakar to Natal in 14 hours and 52 minutes.
During its commercial career, the Centaur made 24 South Atlantic crossing, the last
one occurring on the 29th June 1936.
As no more models of the 220 were produced, and thus no source of spare materials, its
life was doomed to be short, and after failing its inspection in August it was retired.
Though short-lived, the Centaur left its mark, and as a result of its performance, Air France
ordered a more advanced version from F220B to augment its slow fleet of mail carriers.
Back on the bomber front, things had moved on to the F 221.
This was essentially an improved version of the 220 rather than a completely new design.
It now had a trapezoidal tail and the gunners’ positions were enclosed under glass domes.
The engines were swapped out for the more powerful Gnome-Rhone 14Kbrs which put out
730hp, these engines had reduction gears and were supercharged.
Though more advanced than the previous design, Farman had made the odd decision of retaining
the fixed undercarriage from the earlier models.
After fitting NACA-style engine cowlings to fix an overheating problem, the F221 made
its maiden flight at the end of 1933.
Unlike the previous iteration, it didn’t try to shake itself apart en route to the
testing grounds, and during the flight trials it impressed pilots by being able to land
without its flaps at less than 80kmh.
The 221 so impressed members of the French Air Ministry that an order for 10 production
aircraft was placed before the tests had even concluded.
The production model of the F221 differed little from the prototype, the main exception
being that they now came with an improved version of the engines that produced 800hp
each.
This allowed them to carry a slightly heavier bombload than originally designed, and depending
on the mission they could carry between 1.2 and 2.2 tonnes of bombs at an average speed
of 290km/h.
Ever in the pursuit of improvement, Farman quickly moved on to the next iteration.
They built an improved version of the production 221, which -amongst small airframe changes-
featured more powerful engines again of 870hp and finally a retractable landing gear.
This was presented as the F.222-1 and was immediately approved for another production
order of 10 aircraft.
As a result of the improvements, Farman’s bombers could now boast an operational load
carrying top speed of 325kmh and a range of 1800km.
These were delivered to 8/15 bombardment group in April of 1937, and well liked by their
crews.
However, before those units had even arrived, the French government had already signed another
2 contracts for an order of 24 more bombers, and once again these would come in the form
of a new variant, this one being dubbed the F.222-2.
These new models received a marked dihedral on the outer wing sections to correct some
lateral instability, and the front fuselage was lengthened by 88cm and sloped to provide
better visibility for the pilot.
While the first eight of these had the same engines as their predecessors, the other 16
were equipped with a more advanced version that featured improved cooling.
Though there was no change in power output, it did mean they could fly under higher power
for longer.
They also carried a heavier bombload, being able to carry 100 to 500kg bombs for a total
load of just under 4.5 tonnes – that’s nothing to sniff at by 1930s standards.
Depending on what is classed as a heavy bomber by various sources, France could be said to
be the only European nation to have operational squadrons of heavy bombers at the outbreak
of World War 2.
Though they would only drop leaflets during the “Phoney war” the F222s would be amongst
the first to drop actual bombs on German territory, with over 133 tonnes being dropped in May
1940.
Not long after this (in an interesting turn of events), one of those bombers would end
up on British soil after being “Borrowed” by French pilot James Denis, who wanted to
evacuate himself and 20 of his comrades.
After landing safely, he would go on to serve in the Free French Air force, becoming an
ace and shooting down nine german planes.
The last of Farmans big bombers to enter service was the F.223, which was later renamed to
the N.C.223 when the company was nationalised.
Unlike the previous models, this one featured more radical design changes.
The fuselage was significantly redesigned to both improve strength and reduce weight,
and it now had a twin tail arrangement to improve its lateral stability.
The prototype model had been built as a mail carrier in 1937 as part of the request by
Air France for a modern version of the old F.221, but with Europe’s stability teetering
towards war it was also evaluated for military use.
This new aircraft marked a return to the Hispano-Suisa engine, and with a 6000-litre fuel tank it
was hoped to further improve upon the F.222 as a potential heavy bomber.
These hopes were soon realised during an endurance trial when it set a new record by carrying
a 10-tonne payload over a distance of 1000km.
As a result of this orders were quickly placed for the NC.223-3.
Along with being a highly evolved airframe compared to its predecessor, the 223 also
had modernised equipment.
The Hispano-Suisa engines were further upgraded to provide 1100hp each, it had a brand new
pneumatic flap system, and it featured a Smith autopilot system.
Its defences were also improved, with the two rear-facing machine guns being replaced
by 20mm hispano cannons.
The first production model flew at the end of 1939, and the last of a 15 unit order was
ready for flight by March of 1940…though they weren’t ready for service, that wouldn’t
happen until May.
The reason for the delay was the defensive armament.
At that time of the war, the Hispano cannons were classified as “secret materials”
and no relevant authority had been able to entrust any examples of the weapon for testing.
As a result of this, the tests for the aircrafts defensive gun mounts had to be done with wooden
mock-ups, which of course didn’t account for the gun’s weight.
This meant that when the actual guns arrived, their mounts weren’t suitable for them and
had to be hastily re-designed.
As a result of this the 223 saw little action against Germany in the last weeks of the battle
of France, but it is notable for one particular mission.
At midnight on June the 7th 1940, an impressed mail carrier variant of the 223, names Jules
Verne, flew deep into Germany to drop the first bombs on Berlin.
At this time, the NC.223 was the only aircraft in the allied air forces that had the range
for such an attempt.
In charge of the mission was captain Henri Daillière.
In Berlin there was no blackout, so confident was high command that the city would not be
bombed, so it was not difficult for his crew to spot their target.
When they got close he instructed the pilot to fly low as if they were making to land
at Tempelhof Airport.
They flew over it without incident and headed for Tegel, their target being the Seimens
factory.
The payload was eight 250kg conventional bombs and a case of 10kg incendiaries.
The heavy bombs were dropped from their bomb racks, but there was no such provision for
the incendiaries, and so the flight mechanic and bombardier tossed them out of the passenger
doors by hand.
After returning safely, and to much congratulation, their mission was repeated several days later
when Henri and his crew bombed the Heinkel factory at Rostock.
Though it created a lot of noise, the raids did little in the way of physical damage,
but the real intention had been the psychological effects..
though the german propaganda machine quickly sprung into action and spun it as some sort
of practice air raid.
Aside from this the French Heavy bombers saw almost no more service over Europe.
On June the 16th, seven were flown to North Africa for use against the Italians; however,
six days later the armistice between France, Germany and Italy brought their combat duties
to a halt.
The Luftwaffe took the prototype 223 for research purposes and the other planes were put in
service with the new Vichy Air Force, this lasted until the Allied invasion of North
Africa in 1942 when Germany moved to occupy the rest of France.
The Jules Verne met its end on November 8th when the French Resistance burnt it to prevent
it falling into German hands, and the remaining aircraft under Vichy control in Algeria were
destroyed during the Anglo-American invasion.
And so that brings to a close the somewhat brief, somewhat weird history of Farmans often
forgotten heavy Bomber.
The source material on these planes is somewhat scare, and what I could find I had to mostly
translate from French, so apologies if there are any minor mistakes due to poor translation.
But I hope you all enjoyed today’s video, as always thank you all very much for watching,
and I’ll catch you all next time.
Goodbye.