| Zeppelin-Lindau V I | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Zeppelin-Werke Lindau GmbH |
| Designer | Claude Dornier |
| First flight | November 1916 |
The Zeppelin-Lindau V I was a metal-framed, pusher configuration, German sesquiplane, designed by Claude Dornier. It flew on 13 November 1916 and crashed on the first flight.
It was designed by Claude Dornier, then with Zeppelin-Werke Lindau GmbH and first flew on November 13, 1916. It was a single seat experimental test aircraft for Abteilung Dornier. [1]
The V I was a two bay sesquiplane, its lower wing both shorter and narrower than the upper one. Both had roughly rectangular plans, though the upper tips were rounded. Two steel tube, V-form interplane struts braced the upper and lower wing spars together across an unusually small interplane gap. The wings had Dornier's preferred metal spars and ribs and were fabric covered. [2]
A pusher configuration aircraft, the V I was powered by a 160 hp (120 kW) Maybach Mb.III engine placed, partially exposed, at the rear of the forward fuselage. This was a smooth ovoid aluminium sheet structure and contained the cockpit just behind the nose. Behind the wing trailing edges the fuselage was an uncovered steel tube structure, rectangular in cross-section. Its upper and lower tailbooms were mounted on the wings at the top and bottom of the inner interplane struts, far enough apart to provide clearance for the propeller. It narrowed aft to the tail, which, like the wings, had surfaces with fabric covering over metal structures. A trapezoidal fin was mounted between the converging fuselage members, where the final vertical tube served as the rudder post and carried a rectangular rudder. The horizontal tail was mounted on the upper fuselage, braced with V-struts to the lower booms ahead of the rudder post. [2] An SKF latticed radiator was fixed above the upper wing. [1]
Its undercarriage was fixed and conventional, with mainwheels on a single axle supported at each end by a V-strut to the lower fuselage. There was a small tailskid below the rudder post. [2]
The pusher layout was probably influenced by the success of the British D.H.2, and F.E.2b fighters which, with the French Nieuport 11 sesquiplane had helped to attain aerial superiority on the Western Front in the summer of 1916.
The machine was built at Seemoos, Friedrichshafen and was transported to Loewental airfield and stored in readiness for flight trials. Ground-based taxiing trials indicated that it was top heavy, where it nosed over on the ground on at least once. On 13 November when the initial flight was to take place, company pilot Schroeter did not turn up so Oblt. Riechsffreiherr Hans Haller von Hallerstein volunteered instead. The aircraft lifted off the ground and flew on an undulating path before climbing almost vertically and then diving and crashing into the ground. Kallerstein was killed and the aircraft was so badly damaged that it was not repaired.
Data from German Aircraft of the First World War [2]
General characteristics
The Bréguet Type III was an early biplane built by Louis Bréguet in France in 1910.
The Kawasaki KDC-2 was a 1920s Japanese light civil transport which Kawasaki developed from its Kawasaki Army Type 88 Reconnaissance Aircraft. Two were built and flown in 1928 and flew both regular and irregular services; the last retired in 1935.
The Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.I was a large three-engined biplane flying boat designed by Claudius Dornier and built during 1914–15 on the German side of Lake Constance. It never progressed beyond taxiing trials as it was destroyed in a storm.
The Gwinn Aircar was a single-engined biplane with a cabin for two, designed in the US as a safe and simple private aircraft. Lacking a rudder, it had several unusual control features as well as an early tricycle undercarriage. Development was abandoned after a crash in 1938.
The Farman F.30A C2 was a two-seat biplane designed as a fighter in France in 1916 and powered by a single, water-cooled radial engine. It showed poor flight characteristics and only one was built, though it was modified twice. It should not be confused with the similarly named Henry Farman HF.30 of 1915, a completely different aircraft which was used in large numbers by the Imperial Russian Air Service.
The Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.II was a biplane flying boat, designed by Claudius Dornier and built during 1914–1915 on the German side of Lake Constance. Initially this aircraft was powered by three engines mounted inside the hull driving three pusher propellers via gearboxes and shafts. The later version was powered by four engines in two push-pull nacelles mounted between the wings.
The Corcoran 65-1 was a motor glider of very unusual configuration, a twin engine biplane. It was designed and built in the United States in the 1960s; only two were completed.
The Fokker D.XII was a Dutch single seat, single engine fighter aircraft designed to an American specification which called for the use of a Curtiss D-12 engine, designated PW-7. Despite considerable efforts to improve the airframe, Fokker failed to win the USAAS competition.
The Hanriot HD.15 was a French two seat fighter aircraft fitted with a supercharger for good high altitude performance, built in the 1920s. Three were ordered by Japan but lost at sea during delivery.
The Hanriot H.26 was a French single seat fighter aircraft prototype completed in 1923. Only one was built.
The Potez 26 was a single seat fighter aircraft designed and flown in France in the mid-1920s. It did not reach production.
The Caudron C.140 was a French tandem cockpit sesquiplane designed in 1928 as a combination of liaison aircraft and observer and gunnery trainer.
The Caudron Type B was a 1911 development of the earliest Caudron type, the Caudron Type A, with a nacelle style fuselage and more powerful engine. Initially an equal span biplane, it was modified into a sesquiplane.
The Lioré et Olivier H-23-2 was an amphibious maritime reconnaissance flying boat, built in France in 1932. Three were produced for the Venezuelan Army Air Service.
The Caproni Ca.61 was an Italian heavy day bomber aircraft of 1922. It was the final development of the Caproni three engine, twin boom biplane types developed during World War I, but it was not put into production.
The Caproni Ca.66 was an Italian night bomber designed to reequip the post-World War I Italian Air Force. Only two examples of the four-engined biplane were built.
The Skraba S.T.3 was a two-seat Polish biplane built in 1928. It was the first all-metal aircraft designed in Poland; only one was completed.
The Schneider Henri-Paul was a French four-engined night bomber with an all-metal airframe. A single example was built and flown in 1922.
The LFV V 18 Sassnitz was a German flying boat able to hold up to eight passengers. Only one is known to have flown.
The Zeppelin-Lindau Gs.I, often known post-WWI as the Dornier Gs.I after its designer Claude Dornier, was a civil flying boat developed immediate post-war from a military prototype. Its passenger cabin seated six. Only one was completed, and that was eventually scuttled to keep it out of Allied hands. Another of the military prototypes was intended to have a bigger, nine seat cabin and other refinements but the Gs.II was incomplete when discovered by Allied inspectors.