Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.7
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| Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.7 | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Trainer |
| Manufacturer | Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk |
| Primary user | Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service |
| Number built | 2 |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1922–23 |
| Introduction date | 19 September 1923 |
| First flight | 30 January 1923 |
| Retired | 1931 |
The Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.7 was a two-seat biplane floatplane built by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service aircraft factory Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk in 1923. The M.F.7 was designed and employed as a trainer aircraft, and functioned as a temporary solution until a better aircraft was designed. Soon after it entered service, the aircraft factory's experience with the M.F.7 led to the construction of the Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.8, which remained in service as the main trainer aircraft of the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service until the German invasion of Norway in 1940.
By the early 1920s the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service's main trainer aircraft, the pusher configuration Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.4, which had been introduced in 1918, was outdated. The introduction of such new aircraft as the Hansa-Brandenburg W.33 reconnaissance aircraft left the M.F.4 unfit for service as a trainer. The wings of the M.F.4s were also considered to be too weak. This led to a requirement for a new trainer aircraft of the tractor configuration. Until a tractor aircraft could be designed, a final pusher type was built as an emergency measure, in the shape of the Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.6. Design and construction of the Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.7 began in March 1922. Initial orders from the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service were for two aircraft, which in the end turned out to be the final number of aircraft built of the type.[1]
The M.F.7, powered by a 160 hp (119 kW) Sunbeam engine, had stronger wings than its predecessor, and was initially fitted with floats made out of duralumin alloy imported from Germany.[2]
Soon after test flying began, the imported duralumin-based floats proved troublesome, as they would not plane on water. The metal alloy floats were soon replaced by wooden floats bought by the Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk after the bankruptcy of the civilian aircraft manufacturer Norsk Aeroplanfabrik. At the same time the carburettors in the aircraft's engines were replaced with newer models.[3] Later the aircraft had their engines replaced with 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes engines. Built as a trainer, the aircraft carried no armament.[4]