Bernard H.V.120

The Bernard H.V.120 was a racing seaplane designed and built by the French aircraft manufacturer Bernard. It was developed specifically to compete in the Schneider Trophy race.

The company developed it as a wooden single-seat mid-wing cantilever monoplane, equipped with twin floats and powered by a 1,680 hp (1,253 kW) Hispano Suiza 18R W-18 piston engine. Development was protracted, primarily as a result of engine-related difficulties, that delayed availability and thus did not permit the aircraft to race in the 1929 competition as intended. The first aircraft performed its maiden flight on 25 March 1930, four months after the race.

The test flight programme, while successfully demonstrating the ability to fly at 500 kmph (310 mph), was not trouble-free. The second aircraft was lost in a fatal crash during 1931; work continued with the first aircraft. During the early 1930s, the prototype was converted, and thus re-designated Bernard V.4, into a racing landplane; however, this aircraft would never actually fly as a result of funding having been pulled for the project.