Farman HF.20

The Farman HF.20 and its derivatives were a family of French reconnaissance biplanes built shortly before and during the First World War. The HF.20 was a refined version of the MF.11 Shorthorn that did away with its landing skids and took on design features of Henri Farman's own aircraft. It entered service with the French, Belgian and Serbian armies in 1913, and two aircraft flew reconnaissance during the Siege of Scutari in the First Balkan War. The British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service flew it from soon after the outbreak of war, and Airco and Grahame-White built it under licence in Britain. The 80 horsepower Gnome Lambda rotary left it seriously underpowered, and only the HF.27 variant, with an engine of twice the power, cured the problem, by which time the type was already obsolete.