Norsk Flyindustri Finnmark 5A

{{Infobox Aircraft Begin

|name=Finnmark 5A

|image=H%C3%B8nningstad_5-A_1.jpg

|caption= Finnmark 5A

}}{{Infobox Aircraft Type

|type=Amphibious airliner

|national origin=Norway

|manufacturer=Norsk Flyindustri

|designer=Birger Hønningstad

|first flight=September 1949

|introduced=

|retired=

|status=Scrapped

|primary user=VLS

|more users=Norrønafly

|produced=

|number built=1

|variants with their own articles=

}}

The Norsk Flyindustri Finnmark 5A (named for the Norwegian county) was an amphibious flying-boat airliner built in Norway in the late 1940s. The single prototype was operated by the VLS airline, but no orders for additional aircraft were received, and a refined version designated 5A-II was never built. The Finnmark was a conventional high-wing cantilever monoplane with twin engines housed in nacelles on the wings, and the first twin-engined aircraft constructed in Norway.Hagby, Kai (1998): Fra Nielsen & Winther til Boeing 747 : norske sivilregistrerte fly 1919-1998, p. 59 A specially-designed combination wheel-ski undercarriage retracted into wide sponsons on the sides of the flying boat hull.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

This undercarriage (built by Dowty in England) was the subject of patents in Norway, Sweden, and Canada, and was constructed in such a way that the skis would be properly aligned for retraction and extension, and while lowered in flight, but would be free to move under landing forces, pivoting and deflecting to facilitate a smooth landing on rough snow or ice.Flight 2 January 1953, p. 12.

The prototype Finnmark made its first flight on 17 September 1949, as a pure flying boat, being fitted with its retractable undercarriage in the winter of 1951–52. Before 1954, it was modified by removing its undercarriage, and replacing the sponsons by wing-mounted stabilising floats. It entered service with Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap that year, flying a service between Bergen, Haugesund and Stavanger. It was later sold to Norrønafly.Stroud Aeroplane Monthly August 1993, pp. 62–63. The airworthiness certificate expired in 1961, and the aircraft was scrapped in 1965.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Only one of the Cowlings avoided scrapping and is on display at the Norwegian Aviation Museum in Bodø.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Specifications (5A-II, as designed)

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Hönningstad Finnmark Amphibian

|prime units? = met

|crew=Two

|capacity=12 passengers

|length m=14.12

|length ft=46

|length in=4

|span m=19.05

|span ft=62

|span in=6

|wing area sqm=48.5

|wing area sqft=522

|empty weight kg=4,530

|empty weight lb=9,966

|gross weight kg=5,950

|gross weight lb=13,100

|eng1 number=2

|eng1 name=Pratt & Whitney R-1340-S1H1

|eng1 kw=450

|eng1 hp=600

|max speed kmh=300

|max speed mph=190

|cruise speed kmh=250

|cruise speed mph=156

|climb rate ms=5.6

|climb rate ftmin=1,100

}}

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References

{{reflist}}

  • {{cite magazine |title=Hönningstad Finnmark Amphibian |magazine=Flight |date=2 January 1953 |volume= LXIII|issue= 2293 |page=12 |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200012.html }}
  • {{cite magazine|last=Stroud|first=John|title=Post War Propliners: Short Sealand and Hønningstad 5 A Finnmark|magazine=Aeroplane Monthly|date=August 1993|volume= 21|issue= 8|pages=58–63}}
  • {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |page=511 }}