Blanchard Brd.1

The Blanchard Brd.1 was a French reconnaissance flying boat, to the 1923 STAé HB.3 specification, used by the French navy in the 1920s. It was a large biplane with two engines mounted in the gap between the wings, each engine driving a pusher propeller. In 1924, one Brd.1 was used to set several world altitude records for seaplanes.

Operators

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1924,^[1] Aviafrance:Blanchard Brd-1^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: 3/4
Length: 13.6 m (44 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in)
Height: 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 85 m² (910 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,300 kg (5,071 lb)
Gross weight: 3,765 kg (8,300 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Hispano-Suiza 8Fe V-8 water-cooled piston engines, 190 kW (260 hp) each
Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance

Maximum speed: 175 km/h (109 mph, 94 kn)
Service ceiling: 3,500 m (11,500 ft)
Time to altitude: 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 30 minutes
Wing loading: 43 kg/m² (8.8 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.1034 kW/kg (0.0629 hp/lb)

Armament

^ Grey, C.G., ed. (1924). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1924. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. pp. 93b–94b.
^ Parmentier, Bruno (22 February 1998). "Blanchard Brd-1, Hydravion de reconnaissance par Aviafrance". Aviafrance (in French). Paris. Retrieved 10 March 2018.