Riesenflugzeug

A Riesenflugzeug (plural Riesenflugzeuge, German for "giant aircraft"), sometimes colloquially referred to in English as an R-plane, was any member of a class of large World War I German bombers, possessing at least three aircraft engines, although usually four or more engines. These were large multi-engine aircraft capable of flying several hours with larger bomb loads than the smaller Grossflugzeug bombers such as the Gotha G.V.

Some of the earliest Riesenflugzeuge were given G-type designations before being redesignated, but a major distinction was that the requirements for the R-type specified that the engines had to be serviceable in flight. As a result, designs fell into two groups - those with the engines mounted centrally inside the fuselage using gearboxes and driveshafts to transfer the power to propellers mounted between the wings, and those with conventional powerplant installations mounted in large nacelles or the nose of the aircraft where engineers would be stationed for each group of engines. The transmission of power from the centrally mounted engines to the remote, most often wing-mounted propellers proved troublesome in practice and most operational examples of Riesenflugzeug-class aircraft were of the second type, as with the all-direct-drive Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI.

The Idflieg (Inspektion der Fliegertruppen (Inspection of the Air Force), the German Army department responsible for military aviation), assigned the letter R to this type of aircraft, which would then be followed by a period and a Roman numeral type number. Seaplanes were denoted by the addition of a lower case "s" after the "R" in the designation.

The Riesenflugzeuge were the largest aircraft of World War I. In comparison, the largest equivalent Allied aircraft were the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets[note 1] with a span of 29.8 m (97 ft 9 in), the Caproni Ca.4 with a span of 29.9 m (98 ft 1 in), the one-off Felixstowe Fury with a span of 37.5m (123 ft) and the Handley Page V/1500 with a span of 38.41 m (126 ft 0 in), of which only three had been delivered by the time the war ended. The Riesenflugzeuge that bombed London during the First World War were larger than any of the German bombers used during the Second World War, and the largest built, the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII of 1918 had a wingspan of 48.0 m (157 ft 6 in). It was not until sixteen years later that a larger-wingspanned aircraft, the all-metal Soviet Tupolev Maksim Gorky eight-engined monoplane was built, with an unprecedented 63.0 m (206 ft 8 in) wingspan.

The Riesenflugzeuge, most of which were built as "one-off" aircraft, were operational from 1915 to 1919.

List of aircraft

TypeEnginesSpanFirst
flight
ServiceNotesNumber
built
AEG R.I4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IV36 m
(118 ft 1 in)
1916Nonebroke up in flight in 19181 completed, 7 more partially built
DFW R.I4 × 220 hp Mercedes D.IV29.5 m
(96 ft 9 in)
1916Eastern Frontcrashed on 2nd combat flight[1]1
DFW R.II4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa30.06 m
(98 ft 7 in)
1918Trainer as unsuitable for combat2 of 6 ordered
DFW R.III8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IV53.5 m
(175 ft 6 in)
n/aNoneIncomplete at end of war, cancelledNone
Junkers R.I4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa35.0 m
(114 ft 10 in)
n/aNone1 incomplete
LFG Roland R.I4 × 1000 hp Maybach Mb.IVn/an/aNoneNot built
Linke-Hofmann R.I4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa33.2 m
(108 ft 11 in)
1917NoneFirst example had 32.02 m
(105 ft 1 in) span[1]
4
Linke-Hofmann R.II4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa42.16 m
(138 ft 4 in)
1919NoneUsed largest single propeller ever built, some 6.9 meters in diameter2
Poll/Forssman Giant[2]10 × unk. engines50.3 m
(165 ft 0 in)
n/aNoneCancelled incompleteNone
Schütte-Lanz R.I6 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVa44.0 m
(144 ft 4 in)
n/aNonedesign study only
Siemens-Schuckert Forssman R2 × 110 hp Mercedes D.III
& 2 × 220 hp Mercedes D.IVa
24.0 m
(78 ft 9 in)
1915Trainer1
Siemens-Schuckert R.I3 × 150 hp Benz Bz.III28.0 m
(91 ft 10 in)
1915Eastern Front
& training
[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.II3 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa38.0 m
(124 ft 8 in)
1915Trainingspan increased[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.III3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV34.33 m
(112 ft 8 in)
1915Training[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.IV3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV37.6 m
(123 ft 4 in)
1916TrainingSpan increased[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.V3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV34.33 m
(112 ft 8 in)
1916Eastern frontSpan increased[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VI3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV33.36 m
(109 ft 5 in)
1916Eastern frontSpan increased[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VII3 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa38.44 m
(126 ft 1 in)
1917Eastern front[1]1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII6 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVa48.0 m
(157 ft 6 in)
n/aNone2 (one unfinished)
Siemens-Schuckert R.IX8 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVan/an/aNonedesign study only
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.I3 × 240 hp Maybach Mb.IV43.5 m
(142 ft 9 in)
n/aNoneWrecked unflown, 1915[note 2]1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.II3 × 240 hp Maybach Mb.IV33.2 m
(108 ft 11 in)
1916None[note 2]1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.III3 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa37.0 m
(121 ft 5 in)
1917Evaluation[note 2]1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.IV4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa37 m
(121 ft 5 in)
1918None[note 2]
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.I3 × 240 hp Maybach HS
or 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa
42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1915Kaiserliche Marine[note 4]
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.II3 × 240 hp Maybach HS42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1916Eastern front
& trainer
[note 4][1]
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.III6 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1916Eastern front[note 4][1]
Zeppelin-Staaken R.IV2 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III
& 4 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV
42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1917?Eastern front
& Western front
One built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.V5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1917?Western frontOne built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1917?Western front18 built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VII2 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III
& 4 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV
42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1917NoneWrecked on delivery
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VIII8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa
or 8 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa
55 m
(180 ft 5 in)
1918Noneunfinished[3][4]
Zeppelin-Staaken R.IX8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa
or 8 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa
55 m
(180 ft 5 in)
1918Noneunfinished[5][6]
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIV5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1918Western frontThree built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIVa5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa42.2 m (138 ft 5.5in)[note 3]?Post-warSeized while smuggling
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa42.2 m (138 ft 5.5in)[note 3]1918Western Front
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI2 × 530 hp Benz Bz.VI
& 2 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV
42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
1918AirlinerTwo completed, 3rd unfinished[note 5]
Zeppelin-Staaken L4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
?NoneFloatplane variant. Wrecked in trials.[note 6]1
Zeppelin-Staaken Type 83014 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa42.2 m
(138 ft 5 in)[note 3]
?floatplane airliner3 built for Kaiserliche Marine3

References

Notes

  1. The first successful large aircraft, and the inspiration for the German Grossflugzeug and Riesenflugzeuge bombers
  2. Flying-boat developed by Claudius Dornier while working for Zeppelin.
  3. The essentially same wing structure was used for nearly all 42.2 meter wingspan Zeppelin R-series aircraft.
  4. Built at Versuchsbau Gotha Ost to Zeppelin design
  5. One built during war which did not see any service. One was never completed. One was built as a civilian airliner
  6. Built for Kaiserliche Marine

Citations

  1. Haddow, 1962, p.67
  2. G. Sollinger, "The Forssman Tri-plane, The Largest Aeroplane Of World War I" The Forssmann-Triplane
  3. Haddow, G.W.; Grosz, Peter M. (1962). The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919. London: Putman.
  4. Gunston, Bill, 1991. Giants of the Sky: The Largest Aeroplanes of All Time. Sparkford, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited.
  5. Haddow, G.W.; Grosz, Peter M. (1962). The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919. London: Putman.
  6. Gunston, Bill, 1991. Giants of the Sky: The Largest Aeroplanes of All Time. Sparkford, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited.

Bibliography

  • Gray, Peter; Thetford, Owen (1962). German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putman.
  • Haddow, G.W.; Grosz, Peter M. (1962). The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919. London: Putman.
  • Sollinger, G. (2009). Villehad Forssman: Constructing German Bombers 1914-1918. Moscow: Rusavia Publishing House.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.