48024 MARTINSYDE F.4 BUZZARD

The Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard was a British mixed biplane fighter with a fixed landing gear. The drive was provided by a single in-line engine Hispano-Suiza 8Fb with power 300 KM. The prototype flight took place in 1918. In the course of serial production in the period 1918-1920, approx. 370 examples of this aircraft were made. The armament was two 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns. Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard was created as the successor of the Martinsyde G.100, RG machines, and especially the hunting version - F.3. The plane was based on many solutions of its predecessors, but most of all it had a new engine with more power and a reinforced fuselage. Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard turned out to be a plane with very high, for those times, maximum speed, great maneuverability and good piloting qualities. All this resulted in the Martinsyde plants receiving an order from both the British and French governments to mass-produce new aircraft. However, by the end of the war, only a few dozen copies of this machine were produced, which actually did not take part in the First World War. However, production continued until 1920. After 1918, the Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard plane was exported to, among others, Finland, Japan, Poland and Portugal.