Franco-British Aviation
_Type_C_drawing.jpg) |
|
| Successor | Hydravions Louis Schreck FBA, Société des Avions Bernard |
|---|---|
| Founders | Louis Schreck, André Beaumont |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Products | Military Aircraft |
Franco-British Aviation (usually known by its initials FBA) was an aircraft manufacturer of the early 20th century, headquartered in London and with its production facilities around Paris. Specialising in seaplanes, it was established in 1913 by Louis Schreck and André Beaumont.
The company was established in 1913 by Louis Schreck and André Beaumont.
Louis Schreck was technical director of the French subsidiary in Argenteuil. The first activity of the company was the development of a flying boat hull derived from Donnet-Leveque Type A. The aircraft, a single-engine biplane mounted between the two wings with a pusher propeller, was originally called FBA-Leveque, then it was renamed FBA Type A.
It is from this first model that the manufacturer will manufacture various derivative models that will be used by the forces of Triple Entente: France, United Kingdom and the Russian Empire.
During World War I produced large numbers of small flying boats for the navies of France, Russia, Italy, and the UK.
Following the war, the company was reorganised as Hydravions Louis Schreck FBA as a purely French concern and continued building aircraft in the same class. One of these, the FBA 17, sold in quantity.
In 1922, Émile Paumier became technical director and develop the brand models from the FBA model Type 10. From the Type 19, the company abandoned the conventional configuration with pusher propeller to finally adopt the propeller tractive.
The company could not repeat its wartime successes. The lack of orders, especially for civilian models, lead to production 1931 been stopped. In 1934, on the verge of collapse the workshops of the factory were sold to Bernard. The Bernard was also struggling and itself failed later in 1935.
...
Wikipedia