Farman F.170 Jabiru
# Farman F.170 Jabiru

The Farman F.170 Jabiru was a 1925 single-engine airliner evolved from the F.121 Jabiru, built by the Farman Aviation Works.

## Design and development

The F.170 Jabiru was a single-engine evolution of the 1923 F.3X/F.121. In the early 1920s, there was a strong prejudice in favour of single-engine airliners. Since even multi-engine aircraft could not keep flying in the likely event that an engine went out, it was considered that a single engine offered just as much security and a greater ease of maintenance.

The F.170 could carry up to 8 passengers and was an ungainly sesquiplane with a rectangular upper wing of constant profile. Its construction was of traditional wood and fabric. Since the aircraft was quite low on its wheels, it was often derisively called the ventre-à-terre (belly to the ground). The first flight took place in 1925.

The improved F.170bis, introduced in 1927, incorporated some metal construction and could carry 9 passengers. The F.171bis was joined by the one and only F.171.

## Variants

### F.170

    An 8-passenger sesquiplane powered by a 370 kW (500 hp) Farman 12 We engine, 13 built.

### F.170bis

    9-passenger airliner; an F.170 incorporating some metal construction, four built.

### F.171

    A long-range derivative developed for a crossing of the North Atlantic, one built.

## Operational history

The F.170 and F.170bis were used exclusively by Société Générale des Transports Aériens (SGTA) from May 1926 and used on the Paris-Cologne-Berlin route. When the SGTA was incorporated in the newly created Air France airline on 7 October 1933, some five F.170 were still being used.

## Operators

### France

* Air France
* Société Générale des Transports Aériens

## Specifications (F.170)

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928, Histoire Mondiale des Avions de Ligne. Aviafrance:Farman F-170

General characteristics

* Crew: 1
* Capacity: 8
* Length: 11.75 m (38 ft 7 in)
* Wingspan: 16.1 m (52 ft 10 in)
* Height: 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
* Wing area: 52.5 $m^2$ (565 sq ft)
* Empty weight: 1,800 kg (3,968 lb)
* Gross weight: 3,200 kg (7,055 lb)
* Powerplant: 1 × Farman 12 We W-12 water-cooled piston engine, 370 kW (500 hp)
* Propellers: 4-bladed wooden fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

* Maximum speed: 220 km/h (140 mph, 120 kn)
* Cruise speed: 180 km/h (110 mph, 97 kn)
* Range: 500 km (310 mi, 270 nmi)
* Service ceiling: 4,500 m (14,800 ft)
* Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 15 minutes
* Wing loading: 61 $kg/m^2$ (12 lb/sq ft)
* Power/mass: 0.1174 kW/kg (0.0714 hp/lb)
