Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Germany -1915 - Siemens-Schuckert Steffen R.I


Germany's Split Tail Giant.


When looking at the R Type giants the idea of form follows function goes out the window. Today's Giant is definitely unusual. Although it is a double boom aircraft it is unique is the use of vertically stacked booms instead of the more orthodox lateral arrangement used on other aircraft.



A Short History of the Siemens-Schuckert Steffen R.I

The Siemens-Schuckert Steffen R.I was a bomber aircraft designed and built in Germany from 1914.

December 1914 saw Siemens-Schuckert start the construction of a series of seven R aircraft, (Riesenflugzeug - giant aircraft) for the Imperial Military Aviation Service. These aircraft were essentially similar differing only in detail, engine installations and wing design. All of the seven Steffen designed aircraft were powered by three engines mounted in the forward compartment of the fuselage driving two tractor propellers mounted between the mainplanes via clutches, shafts and gearboxes.

The large forward compartment also housed the crew of between four and six in an enclosed cabin and open gun positions. Attached to the forward compartment were triangular section diverging booms, top and bottom, which supported the tail section, allowing the rear gunners, in positions between the boom attachments, a wide field of fire.

The R.I was used in non-operational roles at the eastern front and retained for training. R.II and R.III were used for training only, but R.IV, R.V, R.VI and R.VII were all used on operational missions by Rfa 501 (Riesenflugzeug abteilung) at Vilna on the eastern front.


References

  1. From Wikipedia Siemens-Schuckert Steffen R.I, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens-Schuckert_Steffen_R.I
  2. Haddow, G.W. & Grosz, Peter M. The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914-1919 London. Putnam. 1963.
  3. Gray, Peter & Thetford, Owen. German Aircraft of the First World War. London, Putnam. ISBN 0 370 00103 6

Monday, May 28, 2012

Remebering Those Who Gave All

No picture can convey it, nor poetry and fanfare give it more dignity and power. This is just a simple thank you to all who place their life in danger to protect our liberties each day. We honor your service and mourn the loss of those who fell in battle. We give thanks to those who returned shattered. May we make them whole again. Always remember they served of their own free will. We are in forever their debt.


Will Boucher - Memorial Day 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Germany - 1918 - Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII

Riesenflugzeug Fever is Driving Me Crazy! (Baby!)


Slowly but surely I am working my way through a large number of 3 view plans to turn into profiles. I have taken a break from posting Staaken R types for the moment while I get more master files completed. I may start with the V.G.O series first. It provides a reference point design evolution of that family of giant aircraft. I think it is time for a side trip on our journey through the land of giants, so I'm going to work our way back in time to illustrate giant aircraft designed by Siemens-Schuckert Werke G.m.b.H., Siemensstadt. Berlin. My next post in the current series will be the on the Siemens-Schuckert Steffen R.I. I am still working on the master files for the R.III and 3 versions of the Forssman Giant.



A Short History of the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII

The Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII was a bomber aircraft designed and built in Germany.


Armed with the experience gained in the development of the Steffen R series, Siemens-Schuckert felt confident in their ability to produce even larger bombers. Their next project was developing a new design that dwarfed anything they had previously built. Their plan was to produce a six engined Riesenflugzeug for the Military Air Service.As with many of the other contemporary R projects the R.VIII had all six engines inside the fuselage, where they were tended by mechanics, driving two tractor and two pusher propellers, mounted between the main-planes, via leather cone clutches combining gearboxes, shafts and bevel gearboxes. Two aircraft were built but only the first, R23/16, was completed. Ground trials began in 1919, after the armistice. The trials were interrupted by a gearbox failure which resulted in a propeller breaking up and causing extensive damage to the aircraft.

The second airframe, R24/16 was never completed and the first not repaired after the ground running accident due to the Versaille Treaty restrictions. At the time of its completion the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII was the largest complete airplane in the world, (the Mannesman-Poll triplane was to have been much bigger but was not completed before the Versaille Treaty restrictions were applied).


References

  1. Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI. (2012, May 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:11, May 17, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zeppelin-Staaken_R.VI&oldid=492276869
  2. Mark's Lists German Giants Retrieved 01:01, May 17, 2012, from http://www.markslists.net/history/germangiants/index.html
  3. The Aerodrome Forum Zeppelin Staaken R.vi/ Type L Seeflugzeug Bomber Camouflage Retrieved 01:01, May 17, 2012, from http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/camouflage-markings/33768-zeppelin-staaken-r-vi-type-l-seeflugzeug-bomber-camouflage.html
  4. E. Offermann, W. G. Noack, and A. R. Weyl, "Riesenflugzeuge, in: Handbuch der Flugzeugkunde" (Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., 1927).
  5. Haddow, G.W. & Grosz, Peter M. "The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919". London. Putnam. (1962, 3rd ed. 1988).ISBN 0-85177-812-7
  6. Gray, Peter & Thetford, Owen. "German Aircraft of the First World War". London, Putnam. (2nd Ed.) 1970. ISBN 0-370-00103-6
  7. Wagner, Ray and Nowarra, Heinz, "German Combat Planes", Doubleday, 1971.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Germany - 1918 - Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, s/n 8301

When Knights Take Wing and Dragons Scourge the Land.

We all see history through rose colored glasses. Many see the fight in the air during the First World War as the last battle of knighthood. If the fighter and the pilot are the knight on a warhorse then the giant bombers were the dragons. Some may say the German lighter than air fleet should take precedence I have to say when it comes down to speed and survivability heavier than aircraft win that argument.


My search for all flying things large has been very satisfying. I feel like a kid looking up in rapt amazement at a museum display of dinosaurs. “How did it survive? when did it live? Why is it so darn big?” Even without all the questions answered, you took away this. Things can be as big as possible if you have enough energy to keep it running.


This is Number 8301, the first of the production series of Staaken giant float-planes. The colors are conjectural. From photos it appears but is not substantiated that the difference in the paint scheme is the s/n is 8303. Some photos show it used as a passenger aircraft, although they still carried military paint.


Some Personal Observations on the 8301

The German Naval Air Service had an interest in float-equipped seaplanes so it is no surprise they turned an eye to the prospect of a giant float plane. One Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI was ordered to be converted on September 5, 1917. The new was designated the Type L and issued the serial number 1432. The Zeppelin-Staaken Type L was powered by four Maybach engines using a 2 tractor, 2 pusher propeller configuration. Unfortunately the prototype crashed during testing on June 3, 1918.

The project did not die with the s/n 1432. The German Naval Air Service thought results were promising enough to continue development. They showed their confidence in the design with an order of four improved giant float-planes. The Type 8301 was developed from the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI and the data from the Type L tests. Several important design changes made it an elegant. First change was elevating the fuselage above the lower wing which improved water clearance. To enhance mission flexibility, range became a major factor in mission success. The logical choice was to replace munitions with fuel. By eliminating the bomb bays, the range could be extended. With the extended flight time there was a need to shelter the crew from the elements. This was solved by enclosing the open gun position on the nose provided comfort and protection to the forward gun position. Production ended after the war, of the four aircraft ordered only three were delivered.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Germany - 1917 Zeppelin-Staaken R-type pt 2

In Search of Giants


Sometimes you can work as hard as you can, and on the surface you have nothing to show for your time and effort. This has been the case as of late. I have been doing a lot more research and preparing master files than finishing complete profiles. In some cases when I do finish a profile I am replacing an existing file with a new image. I have finished some new work, and will post them soon.

Recently I have been on a hunt for those giants of the air. It all started when looking for the largest of the float planes. That was where I found today's subject, the Zeppelin-Staaken Type L s/n 1432. After that I got stuck in looking for more types of Staaken R-Type aircraft. One additional benefit was discovering more information and fairly clear 3 views of other rare Giant class aircraft. Some days life is good.


This example of the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI sports a fairly simple paint scheme. The crosses indicate the period was before the end of spring of 1918.


This is the prototype for large Staaken float planes. Sources state the color is a light gray over all. This plane crashed during test flights. There was enough interest in a float version and three serial numbers were reserved 8301 through 8303. It appears 8301 and 8303 were the only examples of that type completed by the end of the war.


A Short Overview of the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI

The Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI was a four-engined German biplane strategic bomber of World War I, and the only so-called Riesenflugzeug ("giant aircraft") design built in any quantity. The R.VI was the most numerous of the R-bombers built by Germany, and also one of the first closed-cockpit military aircraft (but the first was Russian aircraft Sikorsky Ilya Muromets). The bomber was reputedly the largest wooden aircraft ever built until the advent of the Hughes H-4 Hercules built by Howard Hughes, its wingspan of 138 feet 5.5 inches (42.20 m) nearly equaling that of the World War II B-29 Superfortress.

In September 1914, at the start of World War I, Ferdinand von Zeppelin visualized the concept of a Riesenflugzeug (R) bomber, to be larger than the Gotha G. Using engineers from the Robert Bosch GmbH, he created the Versuchsbau Gotha-Ost (VGO) consortium in a rented hangar at the Gotha factory. Alexander Baumann became his chief engineer, although later the team included other noted engineers including Zeppelin's associate Claudius Dornier, Hugo Junkers and Baumann's protogé Adolph Rohrbach. All of these Zeppelin-Staaken Riesenflugzeug designs used some variation of push-pull configuration in the setup, orientation and placement of their power plants.

The first Riesenflugzeug built was the VGO.I flying in April 1915, using three Maybach Zeppelin engines; two pusher and one tractor. This was built for the German Navy and served on the Eastern Front Later modified with two extra engines, it crashed during tests at Staaken. A similar machine, the VGO.II was also used on the Eastern Front.

Baumann was an early expert in light-weight construction techniques and placed the four engines in nacelles mounted between the upper and lower wing decks to distribute the loads to save weight in the wing spars.

The next aircraft, the VGO.III was a six-engined design The 160 hp Maybach engines were paired to drive the three propellers. It served with Rfa 500.

In 1916 VGO moved to the Berlin suburb of Staaken, to take advantage of the vast Zeppelin sheds there. The successor to the VGO III became the Staaken R.IV, the only "one-off" Zeppelin-Staaken R-type to survive World War I, powered by six Mercedes D.III and Benz Bz.IV engines that powered three propellers, a tractor configuration system in the nose, and two pusher-mount on the wings. By the autumn of 1916, Staaken was completing its R.V, R.VI, and R.VII versions of the same design, and Idflieg selected the R.VI for series production over the 6-engined R.IV and other R-plane designs, primarily those of Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG.

With four engines in a tandem push-pull arrangement, it required none of the complex gearboxes of other R-types. Each bomber cost 557,000 marks and required the support of a 50-man ground crew. The R.VI required a complex 18-wheel undercarriage to support its weight, and carried two mechanics in flight, seated between the engines in open niches cut in the center of each nacelle. The bombs were carried in an internal bomb bay located under the central fuel tanks, with three racks each capable of holding seven bombs. The R.VI was capable of carrying the 1000 kg PuW bomb.

Although designed by Versuchsbau, because of the scope of the project, the production R.VI's were manufactured by other firms: seven by Schütte-Lanz using sheds at Flugzeugwerft GmbH Staaken, Berlin; six by Automobil und Aviatik A.G. (Aviatik) (the original order was for three); and three by Albatros Flugzeugwerke. 13 of the production models were commissioned into service before the armistice and saw action.

One R.VI was converted on September 5, 1917, into a float-equipped seaplane for the German Naval Air Service, with the designation Type L and s/n 1432, having Maybach engines. The Type L crashed during testing on June 3, 1918. The Type 8301, of which four were ordered and three delivered, was developed from the R.VI by elevating the fuselage above the lower wing for greater water clearance, eliminating the bomb bays, and enclosing the open gun position on the nose.

R.VI serial number R.30/16 was the first supercharged aircraft, with a fifth engine - a Mercedes D.II - installed in the central fuselage, driving a Brown-Boveri supercharger. This enabled it to climb to an altitude of 19,100 feet (5,800 m). This same aircraft was later fitted with four examples of one of the first forms of variable-pitch propellers, believed to have been ground-adjustable only.

The R.VI equipped two Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Army Air Service) units, Riesenflugzeug-Abteilung (Rfa) 500 and Rfa 501, with the first delivered June 28, 1917.

The units first served on the Eastern Front, based at Alt-Auz and Vilua in Kurland until August 1917. Almost all missions were flown at night with 1,700 pound (770 kg) bomb loads, operating between 6,500 and 7,800 feet (2,000 and 2,400 m) altitude. Missions were of three to five hours' duration.

Rfa 501 was transferred to Ghent, Belgium, for operations against both France and Great Britain, arriving September 22, 1917, at St. Denis-Westrem (Sint-Denijs-Westrem) airdrome. Rfa 501 later moved its base to Scheldewindeke airdrome south of group headquarters at Gontrode, while Rfa 500 was based at Castinne, France, with its primary targets French airfields and ports.

Rfa 501, with an average of five R.VI's available for missions, conducted 11 raids on Great Britain between September 28, 1917, and May 20, 1918, dropping 27,190 kg (29.97 short tons) of bombs in 30 sorties. Aircraft flew individually to their targets on moonlit nights, requesting directional bearings by radio after takeoff, then using the River Thames as a navigational landmark. Missions on the 340-mile (550 km) round trip lasted seven hours. None were lost in combat over Great Britain (compared to 28 Gotha G bombers shot down over England), but two crashed returning to base in the dark.

Four R.VI's were shot down in combat (one-third of the operational inventory), with six others destroyed in crashes, of the 13 commissioned during the war. Six of the 18 eventually built survived the war or were completed after the armistice.

References

  1. Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI. (2012, May 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:11, May 17, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zeppelin-Staaken_R.VI&oldid=492276869
  2. Mark's Lists German Giants Retrieved 01:01, May 17, 2012, from http://www.markslists.net/history/germangiants/index.html
  3. The Aerodrome Forum Zeppelin Staaken R.vi/ Type L Seeflugzeug Bomber Camouflage Retrieved 01:01, May 17, 2012, from http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/camouflage-markings/33768-zeppelin-staaken-r-vi-type-l-seeflugzeug-bomber-camouflage.html
  4. E. Offermann, W. G. Noack, and A. R. Weyl, "Riesenflugzeuge, in: Handbuch der Flugzeugkunde" (Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., 1927).
  5. Haddow, G.W. & Grosz, Peter M. "The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919". London. Putnam. (1962, 3rd ed. 1988).ISBN 0-85177-812-7
  6. Gray, Peter & Thetford, Owen. "German Aircraft of the First World War". London, Putnam. (2nd Ed.) 1970. ISBN 0-370-00103-6
  7. Wagner, Ray and Nowarra, Heinz, "German Combat Planes", Doubleday, 1971.