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weight and performance calculations for the Farman III
Louis Poulhan flying with a passenger (Mrs Dick Ferris?) during the Dominguez Field Air Meet, Los Angeles, January 1910
Farman III
role : experimental/research/flying trials
importance : *****
first flight : 06 April 1909 at Chalons operational : August 1909
country : France
design : Henry Farman (1874-1958)
production : 100+
general information :
In 1908 Henry Farman ordered a biplane built by the Voisin brothers. Indicated as Farman II it incorporated improvements of the design to Farman’s instructions. The Voisin brothers however eventually sold the aircraft to J.T.C Moore-Brabazon, who flew it in England, named “Bird of Passage”. Henry Farman was enraged by the selling of his airplane and broke with the Voisin brothers. Het started to built aircraft for himself, with the Farman III being the first.
It was the first aircraft fully controlled by ailerons, could carry a pilot and 2 passengers. Louis Paulhan set on 12 Jan 1910 over Los Angeles an altitude record of 1209m. This was improved by Henri Wijnmalen to 2780 [m] on 01 October 1910 at Mourmelon. Wijnmalen’s Farman biplane had upper wing extensions (span 13m ?) and was more light.
And then the height record again was raised to 3177m by Marcel Loridan on 08 July 1911 at Chalons with a 70 hp Gnome engine. It took 1 hr 23 minutes to reach this altitude.
Record for distance in closed circuit : 27 Aug 1909 180 [km] in 3 hrs 4 mins. And 56 sec (58.4 km/u) and on 04 Nov 1909 234 km, in both cases flown by Henry Farman. Was initially equipped with a 50 hp 4-cyl. Water-cooled Vivinus engine, but it was replaced by a Gnome engine in August 1909.
In 1910 Farman enlarged the biplane to a length of 13.20 [m], span : 10.40 [m] wing area 50 [m2]. In this configuration it could reach a speed of 65 km/hr.
The Farman III was built in large quantity and used by many fliers in the years before WWI.
users : Henry Farman, Louis Paulhan, Henri Wijnmalen
crew : 1
passengers : 1
engine : 1 Gnome 7 Omega air-cooled 7 -cylinder atmospheric inlet-valve rotary engine 50 [hp](37.3 KW)
dimensions :
wingspan : 9.95 [m], length : 11.97 [m], height : 3.5[m]
wing area : 40.0 [m^2]
weights :
max.take-off weight : 550 [kg]
empty weight operational : 320 [kg] useful load : 140 [kg]
Henry Farman with two passengers, ready for take-off
performance :
maximum speed :60 [km/hr] at sea-level
cruise speed :54 [km/u] op 50 [m]
service ceiling : 2000 [m]
range : 234 [km]
estimated endurance : 4.33 [hours]
description :
3-bay biplane with fixed underwing 4 -wheel landing gear and tail strut
two spar upper and lower wing
tail supported by two open tail booms
canard wing
engine, landing gear and useful load in or attached to fuselage, fuel in gravity tank
airscrew :
fixed pitch 2 -bladed pusher airscrew with max. efficiency :0.61 [ ]
estimated diameter airscrew 2.55 [m]
angle of attack prop : 7.90 [ ]
fine pitch
reduction : 1.00 [ ]
airscrew revs : 1200 [r.p.m.]
pitch at Max speed 0.83 [m]
blade-tip speed at Vmax and max revs. : 161 [m/s]
calculation : *1* (dimensions)
wing chord : 1.93 [m]
mean wing chord : 2.01 [m]
wing aspect ratio : 4.95 []
gap : 1.93 [m]
gap/chord : 0.96 [ ]
seize (span*length*height) : 417 [m^3]
Note the upper wing extensions, extra light version used by Henri Wijnmalen to set the altitude record. With upper wing extensions, empty weight 320 kgs and wing area of 50 m2 the ceiling is calculated as : practical ceiling (operational weight) : 3443 [m] with flying weight :420 [kg]
calculation : *2* (fuel consumption)
oil consumption : 3.4 [kg/hr]
fuel consumption(cruise speed) : 14.3 [kg/hr] (19.6 [litre/hr]) at 76 [%] power
distance flown for 1 kg fuel : 3.77 [km/kg] at 1000 [m] cruise height, sfc : 503.0 [kg/kwh]
estimated total fuel capacity : 96.18 [litre] (70.50 [kg])
calculation : *3* (weight)
weight engine(s) dry : 75.0 [kg] = 2.01 [kg/KW]
weight 20.4 litre oil tank : 1.73 [kg]
oil tank filled with 0.3 litre oil : 0.3 [kg]
oil in engine 0.2 litre oil : 0.2 [kg]
fuel in engine 0.3 litre fuel : 0.19 [kg]
weight 96.2 litre gravity patrol tank(s) : 14.4 [kg]
weight cowling 1.5 [kg]
weight airscrew(s) (wood) incl. boss & bolts : 10.2 [kg]
total weight propulsion system : 102 [kg](18.5 [%])
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Early Farman III with Vivinus engine, note the radiator behind the pilot Henry Farman.
The outside wheels are bigger then the inside wheels.
weight tail boom : 14 [kg]
fuselage skeleton (wood gauge : 3.67 [cm]): 41 [kg]
bracing : 3.1 [kg]
weight instruments. : 1.1 [kg]
weight controls : 5.5 [kg]
weight seats : 3.0 [kg]
weight engine mount : 1.9 [kg]
total weight fuselage : 56 [kg](10.2 [%])
***************************************************************
weight wing covering (doped linen fabric) : 34 [kg]
total weight ribs (22 ribs) : 33 [kg]
load on front upper spar (clmax) per running metre : 271.1 [N]
load on rear upper spar (vmax) per running metre : 127.1 [N]
total weight 8 spars : 15 [kg]
weight wings : 82 [kg]
weight wing/square meter : 2.04 [kg]
weight 12 interplane struts & cabane : 21.9 [kg]
weight cables (90 [m]) : 2.1 [kg] (= 23 [gram] per metre)
diameter cable : 1.9 [mm]
area of canard wing : 1.9 [m2
weight canard wing :4.1 [kg]
weight fin & rudder (1.1 [m2]) : 2.5 [kg]
weight stabilizer & elevator (3.8 [m2]): 8.1 [kg]
total weight wing surfaces & bracing : 120 [kg] (21.9 [%])
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good soft ground capabilities
wheel pressure : 137.5 [kg]
weight 4 wheels (580 [mm] by 68 [mm]) : 22.5 [kg]
weight tailskid : 0.9 [kg]
weight undercarriage with axle 13.2 [kg]
total weight landing gear : 36.6 [kg] (6.7 [%]
*******************************************************************
Note the propellor in front of the engine !
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calculated empty weight : 315 [kg](57.2 [%])
weight oil for 5.2 hours flying : 17.4 [kg]
calculated operational weight empty : 332 [kg] (60.4 [%])
published operational weight empty : 320 [kg] (58.2 [%])
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weight crew : 81 [kg]
weight fuel for 1.0 hours flying : 14 [kg]
********************************************************************
operational weight : 427 [kg](77.7 [%])
fuel reserve : 56.2 [kg] enough for 3.92 [hours] flying
possible additional useful load : 66 [kg]
operational weight fully loaded : 550 [kg] with fuel tank filled for 100 [%]
published maximum take-off weight : 550 [kg] (100.0 [%])
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calculation : * 4 * (engine power)
power loading (Take-off) : 14.75 [kg/kW]
power loading (operational without useful load) : 11.46 [kg/kW]
total power : 37.3 [kW] at 1200 [r.p.m]
calculation : *5* (loads)
manoeuvre load : 1.1 [g] at 1000 [m]
limit load : 3.0 [g] ultimate load : 4.5 [g] load factor : 1.6 [g]
design flight time : 3.47 [hours]
design cycles : 87 sorties, design hours : 90 [hours]
operational wing loading : 105 [N/m^2]
wing stress (3 g) during operation : 154 [N/kg] at 3g emergency manoeuvre
calculation : *6* (angles of attack)
angle of attack zero lift : -1.35 ["]
max. angle of attack (stalling angle) : 14.42 ["]
angle of attack at max. speed : 7.01 ["]
calculation : *7* (lift & drag ratios
lift coefficient at angle of attack 0° :0.10 [ ]
lift coefficient at max. angle of attack : 1.17 [ ]
lift coefficient at max. speed : 0.62 [ ]
induced drag coefficient at max. speed : 0.0438 [ ]
drag coefficient at max. speed : 0.1980 [ ]
drag coefficient (zero lift) : 0.1542 [ ]
calculation : *8* (speeds
stalling speed at sea-level (OW): 44 [km/u]
stalling speed at sea-level (MTOW): 49 [km/u]
landing speed at sea-level: 51 [km/hr]
min. drag speed (max endurance) = minimum speed*1.1 at cruise height : 50 [km/hr] at 1000 [m] (power:71 [%])
min. power speed (max range) : 50 [km/hr] at 1000 [m] (power:71 [%])
cruising speed : 54 [km/hr] op 1000 [m] (power:78 [%])
design speed prop : 57 [km/hr]
maximum speed : 60 [km/hr] op 50 [m] (power:99 [%])
climbing speed at sea-level : 113 [m/min]
Gap : 6 ft 4 in = 1.93 [m]
Length : 39 ft = 11.89 [m]
Span : 32 ft 6 in = 9.86 [m]
Wing area : 410 sq. ft = 38.09 [m2]
Chord : 6 ft 4 in = 1.93 [m]
Weight without aviator : 1212 lbs = 550 [kg]
calculation : *9* (regarding various performances)
take-off speed : 51.9 [km/u]
static prop wash : 68 [km/u]
take-off distance at sea-level : 60 [m]
lift/drag ratio : 3.77 [ ]
minimum speed op : 2353 [m], vminh :66.0 [km/u] is hoger dan vmax op deze hoogte !!!! line 155
vliegtuig kan op deze hoogte niet in de lucht blijven, vliegt hoger dan theoretisch kan
max. theoretical ceiling : 2353 [m] with flying weight :418 [kg] line 3370
climbing speed at 500m : 86.90 [m/min]
time to 1000m : 13.36 [min]
time to 1500m : 27.22 [min]
time to 2000m : 73.05 [min]
practical ceiling (operational weight) : 2138 [m] with flying weight :427 [kg] line 3385
practical ceiling fully loaded (mtow- 30 min.fuel) : 608 [m] with flying weight :543 [kg]
turning speed at CLmax : 51.6 [km/u] at 50 [m] height
Achievements during the 1909 Reims meeting
turn radius at 50m: 22 [m]
time needed for 360* turn 9.5 [seconds] at 50m
load factor at max. angle turn 1.39 ["g"]
calculation *10* (action radius & endurance)
operational endurance : 4.92 [hours] with 1 crew and 66.5 [kg] useful load and 100.0 [%] fuel
published range : 234 [km] with 1 crew and 74.9 [kg] useful load and 88.1 [%] fuel
max range theoretically with additional fuel tanks for total 186.9 [litre] fuel : 516.1 [km]
useful load with action-radius 250km : 4 [kg]
production : 0.23 [tonkm/hour]
oil and fuel consumption per tonkm : 76.88 [kg]
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Literature :
Jane’s record breaking aircraft blz.21
Praktisch handbook vliegtuigen deel 1 blz.64
Vermetele vliegende Hollanders page 14
Historische vliegtuigen page 28, 134
DISCLAIMER Above calculations are based on published data, they must be
regarded as indication not as facts.
Calculated performance and weight may not correspond with actual weights
and performances and are assumptions for which no responsibility can be taken.
Calculations are as accurate as possible, they can be fine-tuned when more data
is available, you are welcome to give suggestions and additional information
so we can improve our program. For copyright on drawings/photographs/
content please mail to below mail address
(c) B van der Zalm 07 October 2020 contact : info.aircraftinvestigation@gmail.com python 3.7.4