Forlanini airships

This is a complete list of Forlanini airships designed and built by the Italian pioneer Enrico Forlanini from 1900 to 1931 (posthumously).Lapini, Gian Luca] These, like the German Groß-Basenach semi-rigid airships, were the first to have the gondola attached to the envelope, to reduce air resistance.editors of Italian wikipedia]

F.1 "Leonardo da Vinci"

*Designed: 1900-1901New York Times]
*Maiden flight: 1909-07-02
*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
*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. Like all the Floranini airships, expect the Omnia Dir, the empennage comprised groups of multiple planes at the poop and at the tail.

F.2 "Città di Milano"

*Maiden flight: 1913-08-17 [New York Times has 1912.#Tim]
*Flights: 43
*Length: 72 metres
*Volume: 12,000 cubic metres
*Gas cells: 12
*Propulsion: Two Isotta Fraschini engines of 80 HP each
*Maximum speed: 70 km/h
*Flight ceiling: 2400 metres
*Useful payload: 5 tonne
*Owner: Royal Italian Army ("Regio Esercito")
*Fate: 1914-04-09 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 metresLigugnana, Sandro]
*Propulsion: Four FIAT S.54-A engines of 80 HP 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 requisitioned by the Italian Army in 1918

F.4

*Volume: 15,000 cubic metres
*Built: 1915 [New York Times wrote F-4 appeared in 1916.#Tim]
*Owner: Marina Italiana

F.5

*Built: 1917
*Volume: 17,783 cubic metres [New York Times claimed convert|700000|cuft|m3.#Tim]
*Length: convert|300|ft|m
*Maximum width: convert|66|ft|m
*Propulsion: Two FIAT S.76-A engines of 350 HP each
*Flight ceiling: convert|20000|ft|m
*Gas cells: 12
*Payload: convert|22000|lb|kg [New York Times wrote payload reduces to convert|13000|lb|kg at convert|7000|ft|m and convert|8000|lb|kg at convert|13000|ft|m.#Tim]
*Crew: 5: commander, two officers, two mechanics
*Owner: Royal Italian Army
*Fate: military operations, decommissioned 1918-02-06

F.6

*Built: 1918
*Volume: 15,000 cubic metres
*Propulsion: Four Isotta Fraschini IV-B engines of 180 HP each
*Owner: Royal Italian Army ("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

ee also

*Enrico Forlanini
*
*

Notes

References

*aerostati.it. [http://www.aerostati.it/cronologia.htm Cronologia aerostatica] (Italian) last accessed 2008-06-30
*Lapini, Gian Luca. 2004. [http://www.storiadimilano.it/Personaggi/Milanesi%20illustri/forlanini/forlanini.htm Storia di Milano ::: Enrico Forlanini] (Italian) last accessed 2008-06-30
*Sandro Ligugnana - Alessandro Ligugnana [http://www.officineleonardo.com/storia/uk/airships.html History - Officine Leonardo da Vinci] . Last accessed 2008-09-01
*The New York Times Magazine. 1918-01-13 Page SM3. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0DE3DA163AE532A25750C1A9679C946996D6CF New Italian Airship Better Than Zeppelin] , last accessed 2008-06-30 ( [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A0DE3DA163AE532A25750C1A9679C946996D6CF full article] )
*editors of Italian wikipedia article [http://it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Forlanini_%28dirigibili%29&oldid=9410613]