J.Davilla, A.Soltan French Aircraft of the First World War (Flying Machines)

Dupperon-Niepce-Fetterer (D.N.F.) Bomber

  The initials D.N.F. stood for Dupperon (the designer), Niepce (the manufacturer), and Fetterer (the financial backer). The firm of Niepce and Fetterer was created initially to manufacture aircraft parts under subcontract. The firm also repaired damaged airframes; a total of 1,500 aircraft were repaired during the war.
  The D.N.F. aircraft was designed to meet the criteria of the 1916 competition for a heavy, well-armed bomber. It was a heavy bomber powered by three 220-hp Renault engines. As with the Breguet 11, two engines were mounted on the wings in a pusher configuration, with a third in the nose. The horizontal stabilizer was mounted at the tail with a large central rudder. On either side of the rudder two auxiliary fins were mounted on the stabilizer. The landing gear consisted of two wheels mounted in tandem and covered by huge spats. These spats, in turn, were faired directly into the engine nacelle, and a gunner was carried in the forward end of each spat. A large tail skid was mounted directly beneath the rudder.
  Test pilots at the concours puissant felt that the D.N.F. bomber was too heavy and therefore difficult to handle. It was rejected for production and further development was abandoned. Some critics of the time stated that D.N.F. stood for "Do Not Fly.''
  The D.N.F. firm subsequently began construction of what it confidently predicted was to be the world's first "aerobus" because of the new plane's size and load-carrying capacity. The only photographs of it, which was presumably intended to be used as an airliner, show that it was under construction and was probably to have been a triplane. It is not known if construction of the "aerobus" was ever completed.


D.N.F. Bomber with Three 220-hp Renault engines
   Span 25.0 m; wing area 123.68 sq. m.
   Empty weight 3,000 kg; loaded weight 4,700 kg; payload 1,700 kg
   Maximum speed: 143 km/h; ceiling 4,800 m
   One built