Forlanini airships
Encyclopedia
This is a complete list of Forlanini airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

s
designed and built by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 pioneer Enrico Forlanini
Enrico Forlanini
Enrico Forlanini was an Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, well known for his works on helicopters, aircraft, hydrofoils and dirigibles. He was born in Milan...

 from 1900 to 1931 (posthumously). These, like the German Groß-Basenach
Groß-Basenach
Gross-Basenach or Groß-Basenach is the designation for a series of five so-called M-class German military semi-rigid airships constructed by the well-known balloonist Nikolaus Basenach and Major Hans Georg Friedrich Groß of the Royal Prussian Airship Battalion Nr 2 between 1907 and 1914.They...

 semi-rigid airship
Semi-rigid airship
Semi-rigid airships are airships with a partial framework. These often consist of a rigid, or occasionally, flexible, keel frame along the long axis under the aerodynamic hull envelope. The partial framework can also be located inside the hull...

s, were the first to have the gondola attached to the envelope, to reduce air resistance.

F.1 Leonardo da Vinci

  • Designed: 1900-1901
  • Maiden flight: 2 July 1909
  • Flights: 38, total distance 850 km.
  • Longest duration: 90 minutes
  • Length: 40 metres
  • Volume: 3,265 cubic metres
  • Propulsion: One Antoinette engine of 40 HP
    Horsepower
    Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

  • Maximum speed: 52 km/h


Construction started in 1900 collaboration with Cesare del Fabbro. Its first flight in 1909 was one year after the first Italian semi-rigid flight by Gaetano Arturo Crocco
Gaetano Arturo Crocco
Gaetano Arturo Crocco was an Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, the founder of the Italian Rocket Society, and went on to become Italy's leading space scientist. He was born in Naples....

. Like all the Floranini airships, except the Omnia Dir, the empennage
Empennage
The empennage , also known as the tail or tail assembly, of most aircraft gives stability to the aircraft, in a similar way to the feathers on an arrow...

 comprised groups of multiple planes at the poop
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...

 and at the tail.

F.2 Città di Milano

  • Maiden flight: 17 August 1913
  • Flights: 43
  • Length: 72 metres
  • Volume: 12,000 cubic metres
  • Gas cells: 12
  • Propulsion: Two Isotta Fraschini engines of 80 HP
    Horsepower
    Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

     each
  • Maximum speed: 70 km/h
  • Flight ceiling: 2400 metres
  • Useful payload: 5 tonne
    Tonne
    The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

  • Owner: Royal Italian Army
    Royal Italian Army
    The Regio Esercito was the army of the Kingdom of Italy from the unification of Italy in 1861 to the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946...

     (Regio Esercito)
  • Fate: 9 April 1914 emergency landing during storm, then damaged by trees and terrain while moored. While attempting to deflate gas cells, caught fire and destroyed.

F.2's gondola was divided in three compartments: the command cabin, passenger cabin, and machine room. For safety all the material was treated with a fire suppressant and the envelope was double-skinned.

F.3

  • Volume: 13,790 cubic metres
  • Propulsion: Four FIAT S.54-A engines of 80 HP
    Horsepower
    Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

     each
  • Maximum speed: 80 km/h
  • Flight endurance: 24 hours
  • Useful payload: 6 tonne
  • Fate: built for the British government but due to World War I
    World War I
    World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

     requisitioned by the Italian Army in 1918

F.5

  • Built: 1917
  • Volume: 17,783 cubic metres
  • Length: 300 feet (91.4 m)
  • Maximum width: 66 feet (20.1 m)
  • Propulsion: Two FIAT S.76-A engines of 350 HP
    Horsepower
    Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

     each
  • Flight ceiling: 20000 feet (6,096 m)
  • Gas cells: 12
  • Payload: 22000 pounds (9,979 kg)
  • Crew: 5: commander, two officers, two mechanics
  • Owner: Royal Italian Army
    Royal Italian Army
    The Regio Esercito was the army of the Kingdom of Italy from the unification of Italy in 1861 to the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946...

  • Fate: military operations, decommissioned 6 February 1918

F.6

  • Built: 1918
  • Volume: 15,000 cubic metres
  • Propulsion: Four Isotta Fraschini IV-B engines of 180 HP
    Horsepower
    Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

     each
  • Owner: Royal Italian Army
    Royal Italian Army
    The Regio Esercito was the army of the Kingdom of Italy from the unification of Italy in 1861 to the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946...

     (Regio Esercito)
  • Fate: one single military mission before the armistice

Omnia Dir

  • Built: 1931
  • Volume: 4,000 cubic metres
  • Propulsion: One Isotta Fraschini of 150 HP
  • Note: Used two groups of five jets of compressed air for manoeuvring, one at each end

See also

  • Enrico Forlanini
    Enrico Forlanini
    Enrico Forlanini was an Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, well known for his works on helicopters, aircraft, hydrofoils and dirigibles. He was born in Milan...

  • Airships of Italy
  • Italian military aircraft 1910-1919
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