Hanriot HD.1 'Scout' | Planes of Fame Air Museum

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Hanriot HD.1 'Scout'

HISTORY

While not as well-known as many of its contemporaries, the Hanriot (pronounced "Ahn-ree-o") HD-1 was a significant type in the last year of the Great War. Very few examples of this French-designed machine actually served with the French. Instead, most French-built Hanriots were delivered to the Belgians, who quickly learned to appreciate the HD-1 's strength, speed, and maneuverability.
Willie Coppens, the top-ranking Belgian ace with 37 victories, flew a bright blue Hanriot. The Italians were the major user of the HD-1. They were so enthusiastic about the Hanriot that they built them under license. By the end of the war, HD-1s equipped 20 Italian squadrons. In the years immediately following World War I, Hanriots served with the U.S. Navy and the Swiss Air Force.
HD-1s have also been preserved in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Venezuela.

The Museum's HD.1 is a World War I combat veteran.
The Museum's HD.1 was manufactured in Boulogne-Billancourt, France and delivered July 1918. It was originally built as an HD.2 seaplane and assigned to the U.S. Navy operating out of NAS-Dunkerque, France. There it conducted coastal patrols and U-boat searches. In 1919, it was among ten HD.2s sent to the Naval Aviation Factory in Philadelphia. These aircraft were converted into HD.1 land fighters and assigned to battleships in the U.S. fleet. In 1923, WWI French Ace Charles Nungesser restored and flew this aircraft for his U.S. exhibition team. It still bears his insignia. Later, Jim Granger of Santa Monica obtained it and put it on public display. He also flew it in the classic silent films Wings (1927), Hell’s Angels (1929), and The Sky Raider (1931). The Museum acquired the aircraft in 1951.