Farman F.31

The Farman F.31 was a French two-seat fighter prototype of 1918, the second attempt at a fighter by a firm better known for bombers. It was designed around the American Liberty 12 engine, a water-cooled V-12 of 300 kilowatts, and it was exceptionally angular, with equal-span wings and the fuselage mounted between its two bays. Armament was two fixed forward-firing Vickers guns and a swivelling Lewis gun at the rear. The sole prototype was completed and first flew in the summer of 1918, and it was still under test in November when the Armistice ended the project, so that the whole programme lasted only about three months and no further development followed. A maximum speed of 215 kilometres per hour at 2,000 metres is recorded for it.