Riesenflugzeug

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Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII (1918) Riesenflugzeug Siemens Schuckert VIII 1918.jpg
Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII (1918)

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 large multi-engine aircraft could fly several hours with larger bomb loads than the smaller Grossflugzeug bombers such as the Gotha G.V.

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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:

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 adding a lowercase "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 (98 ft), the Caproni Ca.4 with a span of 29.9 m (98 ft), the one-off Felixstowe Fury flying boat with a span of 37.5 m (123 ft) and the Handley Page V/1500 with a span of 38.41 m (126.0 ft). The Riesenflugzeuge that bombed London during the First World War were larger than any of the German bombers in use during the Second World War. [note 2] The largest built, the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII of 1918, had a wingspan of 48.0 m (157.5 ft). It was not until sixteen years later that an aircraft with a larger wingspan, the Soviet Tupolev Maksim Gorky eight-engined monoplane, was built with a 63.0 m (206.7 ft) wingspan.

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

List of aircraft

TypeEnginesSpanFirst
flight
ServiceNotesNumber built
AEG R.I 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IV 36 m (118 ft 1 in)1916NoneBroke up in flight in 19181 completed
7 partially built
DFW R.I 4 × 220 hp Mercedes D.IV 29.5 m (96 ft 9 in)1916Eastern frontCrashed on 2nd combat flight [1] 1
DFW R.II 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 30.06 m (98 ft 7 in)1918Trainer as unsuitable for combat2 of 6 ordered
DFW R.III 8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IV 53.5 m (175 ft 6 in)n/aNoneIncomplete at end of war, cancelledNone
Junkers R.I 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 35.0 m (114 ft 10 in)n/aNone1 incomplete
LFG Roland R.I4 × 1000 hp Maybach Mb.IV n/an/aNoneNot built
Linke-Hofmann R.I 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 33.2 m (108 ft 11 in)1917NoneFirst example had 32.02 m (105 ft 1 in) span [1] 4
Linke-Hofmann R.II 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 42.16 m (138 ft 4 in)1919NoneUsed largest single propeller ever built, some 6.9 meters in diameter2
Mannesmann Giant Triplane [2] 10 × unk. engines50.3 m (165 ft 0 in)n/aNoneCancelled incompleteNone
Schütte-Lanz R.I 6 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVa44.0 m (144 ft 4 in)n/aNoneDesign study onlyNone
Siemens-Schuckert Forssman R 2 × 110 hp Mercedes D.III
& 2 × 220 hp Mercedes D.IVa
24.0 m (78 ft 9 in)1915TrainerAfter several rebuilds it was accepted by the military in 1916.
Scrapped after breaking in two.
1
Siemens-Schuckert R.I 3 × 150 hp Benz Bz.III 28.0 m (91 ft 10 in)1915Eastern front & training [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.II 3 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 38.0 m (124 ft 8 in)1915TrainingSpan increased [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.III 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 34.33 m (112 ft 8 in)1915Training [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.IV 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 37.6 m (123 ft 4 in)1916TrainingSpan increased [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.V 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 34.33 m (112 ft 8 in)1916Eastern frontSpan increased [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VI 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 33.36 m (109 ft 5 in)1916Eastern frontSpan increased [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VII 3 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 38.44 m (126 ft 1 in)1917Eastern front [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII 6 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVa48.0 m (157 ft 6 in)n/aNone2 (one unfinished)
Siemens-Schuckert R.IX 8 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVan/an/aNoneDesign study onlyNone
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.I 3 × 240 hp Maybach Mb.IV 43.5 m (142 ft 9 in)n/aNoneWrecked unflown, 1915. Flying-boat [note 3] 1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.II 3 × 240 hp Maybach Mb.IV 33.2 m (108 ft 11 in)1916NoneFlying boat [note 3] 1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.III 3 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 37.0 m (121 ft 5 in)1917EvaluationFlying boat [note 3] 1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.IV 4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 37 m (121 ft 5 in)1918NoneFlying boat [note 3] 1
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.I 3 × 240 hp Maybach HS
or 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa
42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1915 Kaiserliche Marine Built at Versuchsbau Gotha Ost [note 5] 1
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.II 3 × 240 hp Maybach HS 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1915Eastern front & trainer [note 5] [1] 1
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.III 6 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1916Eastern front [note 5] [1] 1
Zeppelin-Staaken R.IV 2 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III
& 4 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV
42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1916Eastern front & Western front1
Zeppelin-Staaken R.V 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1916Western front1
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1916Western front18
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VII 2 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III
& 4 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV
42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1917NoneWrecked during flight to the front.1
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VIII 8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa
or 8 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa
55 m (180 ft 5 in)1918NoneUnfinished [3] [4] 1 incomplete
Zeppelin-Staaken R.IX 8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa
or 8 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa
55 m (180 ft 5 in)1918NoneUnfinished [5] [6] 1 incomplete
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIV 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1918Western front3
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIVa 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5.5in) [note 4] ?Post-warSeized while smuggling1
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5.5in) [note 4] 1918Western front2
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI 2 × 530 hp Benz Bz.VI
& 2 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV
42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] 1918AirlinerTwo completed, 3rd unfinished [note 6] 3 (one unfinished)
Zeppelin-Staaken L 4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] ?NoneFloatplane variant. Wrecked in trials. [note 7] 1
Zeppelin-Staaken Type 8301 4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in) [note 4] ?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. The 50.32 m (165.1 ft) span Junkers Ju 390, was only used as a transport, and the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, used for maritime operations had a span of 32.85 m (107.8 ft).
  3. 1 2 3 4 developed by Claudius Dornier while working for Zeppelin.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The essentially same wing structure was used for nearly all 42.2 meter wingspan Zeppelin R-series aircraft.
  5. 1 2 3 Built at Versuchsbau Gotha Ost to Zeppelin design
  6. One built during war which did not see any service. One was never completed. One was built as a civilian airliner
  7. Built for Kaiserliche Marine

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 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