title: Bernard SIMB AB 14
text: # Bernard SIMB AB 14
  
  The Bernard SIMB AB 14 was a 1920s French single-seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft designed and built by the Société Industrielle des Métaux et du Bois (SIMB). With a reluctance of the French authorities to purchase monoplanes the Bernard 14 was designed as a sesquiplane with Y-form struts bracing the wings on each side. It was powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Hb inline piston engine and had a fixed tailskid landing gear. While on a test flight on 22 February 1926 the aircraft suffered a catastrophic structural failure of the upper wing and the only Bernard 14 was destroyed.
  
  ## Specifications
  
  Data from
  
  General characteristics
  
  * Crew: 1
  * Length: 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in)
  * Wingspan: 12.50 m (41 ft 0 in)
  * Height: 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in)
  * Wing area: 27 $m^2$ (290 sq ft)
  * Empty weight: 1,240 kg (2,734 lb)
  * Max takeoff weight: 1,800 kg (3,968 lb)
  * Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Hb inline piston engine, 370 kW (500 hp)
  * Propellers: 2-bladed
  
  Performance
  
  * Maximum speed: 230 km/h (140 mph, 120 kn)
  
  Armament
  
  * Guns: Two fixed 7.7mm (0.303in) synchronised machine-guns
  