The Farman F.420 was a twin engine monoplane, built in France in the mid-1930s to compete in a government contest for an aircraft capable of fulfilling bomber, fighter and reconnaissance roles.

In August 1933 the French Air Ministry issued a call for prototypes of a multirole class of aircraft, likely to be ordered in large numbers.

The 740 hp (550 kW) Gnôme-Rhône 14 Kdrs radial engines, fitted with long-chord cowlings, were mounted to the underside of the wing in long housings, into which the main undercarriage members, each with a single mainwheel, retracted.

Further forward the fuselage top and bottom remained flat and parallel, with the nose enclosed by full depth, single curvature glazing with positions for a gunner/ bomb aimer.

[1] Farman funded a second F.420 which had prominent exhaust pipes from the tops of the engine housings leading back over the wings, which were locally protected from the heat by a metal covering.