The 1927 Aecherli Pfau 7 wood and canvas biplane training glider was designed by Hermann Aecherli and Willy Farner with the upper wing with semi-Warren truss bracing, and ‘bathtub’ cockpit.
The prime constructor was Aecherli Hermann of Fällanden. Only the one was built.
Wingspan: 8.20 m
Length: 4.6 m
Wing area: 15.2 sq.m
Empty weight: 50 kg
Max weight: 120 kg
Wing loading: 8 kg/sq.m
Best glide: 7.5
Seats: 1
The 1933 wood and canvas Farner WF.8 single-seat parasol training glider was designed by Willi Farner & Hermann Aecherli.
The only WF.8 built was stored at the Swiss Museum of Transportation.
Wingspan: 10.00 m
Wing area: 9.8 sq.m
Length: 4.3 m
Height: 1.2 m
Empty died: 66 kg
Max weight: 136 kg
Min speed: 45 kph
Glide ratio: 18
Min sink: 1.2 m/sec
Seats: 1
Thee 1933 Farner WF. 7 single-seat biplane glider was designed by Willy Farner and Hermann Aecherli.
Wing span: 7.50 m
Length: 5 m
Empty weight; 48 kg
Wing area: 16.2 sq.m
Speed: 42 kph
Min sink: 1.2 m/sec
Glide ratio: 12
The 1932 Farner WF-6 sailplane was a single seater.
Wingspan: 16.8 m
Length: 5.6 m
The “Elmer Citro” glider is a WF 5 and was built in 1932 by Willy Farner (assisted by August Hug). The glider is unique. Farner was the first pilot in the world who did aerobatics using the WF5 in 1932. It gave him a reputation even outside Switzerland.
Willy Farner made his first demonstration of gliding with the WF5 at the international aviation meeting in Zürich in 1932. He subsequently did demonstrations at the end of 1932 in Basel, and then in 1933 at an international meeting in Paris. He was towed for this occasion from Zürich to Paris, then for the return, by a Max Gugolz.
On February 13, Willy Farner, aboard his “Elmer Citro” was towed through the Alps by Robert Fretz flying a Puss-Moth. The tow train carries 7 bags of philatelic mail for a total of 51.5kg. Takeoff place in Dübendorf 2:45 p.m. ET was the landing of the aircraft tug airport has Tagliedo 16.48. Farner follows 14 minutes later, after a total flight time of 2:17. The two pilots were connected by a phone that takes the sound in the larynx rather than in the mouth, whose cable was wound around the tow rope. On the flight back the next day, Farner had to land at Bellinzona because of a storm over the Alps and Fretz carried the letters in his plane until Arosa, where it was distributed to its recipients.
WF 5 “Elmer Citro”
Wingspan: 11.00 m
Length: 5.30 m
Wing area: 11 sq.m
Wing loading: 21 kg/ sq.m
Empty weight: 150 kg
Takeoff weight: 230 kg
Glide ratio: 15
Sink rate: 1.4 m/sec
The 1925 Farner W.F.3 biplane ultra-light/hang glider experimental design was similar to the W.F.-1 and W.F.-2. Only one was built.
Wingspan: 6.70 m
Length: 4.1 m
The 1924 Farner W.F.2 biplane ultra-light/hang glider had a larger tail than W.F.-1 and a revised wing shape. An experimental design with ‘X’ wing bracing, only one prototype was built.
Wingspan 6.00 m
Wing area: 14 sq.m
Length: 3.5 m
Empty weight: 32 kg
Max weight: 102 kg
The Farner W.F.-1 was a 1923 biplane ultra-light/hang glider. An experimental wood and canvas design with ‘X’ wing bracing, only one prototype was built.
Wingspan: 6.00 m
Wing area: 10 sq.m
Length: 3.5 m
Empty weight: 25 kg
Max weight: 102 kg
Willy Farner (1905-1978), aka Willi Farner or ‘Willy Farner de Granges’, based at Granges airfield in the Swiss canton of Fribourg, began as an amateur glider constructor. In 1933 (or 1934, sources vary), he formed Willi Farner Flugzeugbau Grenchen (later known simply as Farner-Werke AG). The number of employees was only ten, but it expanded and employed about 100 skilled men.
Farner AG. was an overhaul and repair organization which produced a two-seat biplane in 1934, and in 1935 a four-seat WF.21/C4 monoplane based on the three-seat Compte AC-4 Gentleman.
From 1934 on, Willi Farner Flugzeugbau Grenchen, produced spare parts for the Swiss military and presumably also for the German military, since Willi Farner Flugzeugbau Grenchen was put on a British ‘ban’ list, and for various makes of gliders.
Prototype WF.12 two-seater built 1943, powered by Cirrus Minor located behind cabin and driving via shafts a tractor propeller mounted at wing level.
In 1946, merged in 1946 with Moutier-based Motorenbau Farner SA (formed in 1942 with German capital).
This plane was built in 1909 by the famous Henri Fabre for his cousin Augustin Seguin, who had previously built an unsuccessful glider. The few tests carried out proved that the wing surface of 10 square metres was insufficient for sustaining someone in the air. It was dismantled and stored until it was rediscovered in 1994. It’s now preserved at the Château de Varagnes near Annonay.
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