DFW C types

DFW C types
Type:	Ground attack aircraft
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	German aircraft works
First flight:	CI: 1915; CV: 1916
Commissioning:	Mid-1915
Number of pieces:	CI: about 130; CV: approx. 3000

The DFW C aircraft were single-engine combat aircraft produced by the Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke (DFW). Among these aircraft, the CV, also known as the Aviatik C.VI and manufactured in large numbers, was one of the most successful two-seater aircraft of the German Army during the First World War .

development

With the transfer of Willi Sabersky-Müssigbrodt from the liquidated Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenwerke in Munich, new ideas came to the design office of the DFW, in which Heinrich Oelerich and Hermann Dorner already had the successful DFW BI and B.II and then on the same basis some less spectacular C. -Planes had designed. The DFW CI (factory designation KD15) differed from the BI in that it had a more powerful engine, but still left the observer inconveniently placed in front of the pilot. In the upper wing, however, there was a recess on which the observer, if he sat up in his cockpit, could defend himself with a movable Parabellum machine gun.

The DFW C.II was a slightly smaller modification of the CI, but now had straight and slightly staggered wings, but was less stable than its predecessor; it is unclear whether the aircraft was used.

Nothing is known about a C.III. In 1916 the engineers modified the fuselage and built the C.IV on this basis , which was also built under license by Aviatik.

Since the engine turned out to be too weak, the machine was equipped with the now available 200 hp Benz Bz IV engine with Windhoff side coolers. The control surfaces have also been modified. The aircraft, known as the DFW CV , had its maiden flight in May 1916 and, despite difficulties during the acceptance test, went into series production in June / July 1916 from August 1916. In October an order increase was 1,000 machines and so the plane also was BFW (300 aircraft), LVG (250 aircraft), Halberstadt (75 aircraft) and aviation (150 aircraft) rebuilt, there under the designation aviation C.VI .

Nothing is known about types or prototypes C.VI or C.VII. In 1918, however, the DFW C.VIII (F37) appeared, also with a 200 hp Benz Bz.IV engine, but significantly smaller and lighter in size than the DV.The aircraft thus reached a height of 6,000 m with the single-seat test version DFW C.VIII (F37 III) with modified tail unit and ailerons and 220-hp Benz Bz.IVa engine, Lieutenant Diemer achieved an altitude record of 9,620 m on May 11, 1919.

However, there was also a DFW CVc training aircraft . It was equipped with a 185 hp NAG engine.

commitment

Spectacular flight image of a DFW CV (Aviation) with the LMG-14 "Parabellum" machine gun

The DFW CI came into use in small numbers in 1915/16.

The use of the C.IV, which was delivered from spring 1916, was clearly overshadowed by the very successful DFW CV.This came to the troops from summer 1916 and was very popular with the pilots because it was easy to handle and for take-off and landing as well reliable, stable, climbing and fast.

The CV also served as a light bomber , photo reconnaissance aircraft and escort aircraft thanks to its sufficient space for equipment and armament . It was considered to be one of the best German C-class aircraft and could hold its own in aerial combat against enemy fighters. The aircraft was manufactured and used in very large numbers until the end of the war. At the end of 1917 there were around 1,000 aircraft, at the end of the war 600 were still in service. The Bulgarian aircraft department acquired six DFW CV 1917, which were destroyed in 1920 by the Allied Control Commission under the terms of the peace treaty.

Little is known about the use of the other C types.

Technical specifications

Parameter	DFW CI (KD15)	DFW C.II	DFW C.IV (T25)	DFW CV (T29)	DFW C.VIII (F37)
delivery	1915		1916		1918
number of pieces	~ 130			~ 3000
crew	2				1
length	8.04 m	7.02 m	7.90 m		7.00 m
span	14.00 m	11.25 m	13.30 m	13.27 m	13.60 m
height	3.18 m		3.30 m		2.80 m
Wing area	40.00 m²	33.00 m²	42.2 m²		38.0 m²
Top speed	130 km / h	140 km / h	135 km / h	155 km / h
Empty mass	800 kg	725 kg	720 kg	970 kg	800 kg
Takeoff mass	1140 kg	1235 kg	1230 kg	1430 kg
Climbing speed to 1000 m				4 min
Climbing speed to 3000 m				16:30 min
Climbing speed to 5000 m				49 min
Service ceiling	3000 m	4000 m		5000 m	6000 m
Flight duration				4:30 h
Range	350 km		400 km	500 km
Engine	a six-cylinder in- line engine
Type	Benz Bz III , 150 hp (110 kW)			Benz Bz IV , 220 hp (162 kW)	Benz Bz IV, 220 hp (162 kW)
Armament	1 MG, bombs	1 MG, bombs	2 MG, bombs	2 MG, 100 kg bombs

Post-war use

Many C.IV survived the war and were converted into commercial aircraft.

Two DFW CV were used in the Finnish Air Force from 1918 to 1921. Many other air forces used this type after the war.

1925–1926, eight replicas of the DFW CV were built as DAR Uzunow-1 in the Bulgarian state aircraft workshop DAR ( Darschawna Aeroplanna Rabotilniza ) in Boschuriste near Sofia under the direction of the German engineer Hermann Winter .

Today only the fuselage of a DFW CV (Av) is preserved in the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow . This machine belongs to the holdings of the German Aviation Collection in Berlin , which were outsourced during World War II ; a return of these and the other aircraft from these stocks is rejected by the Polish side.

See also

• List of aircraft types
• German aircraft works

literature

• Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi: Airplanes from the beginnings to the First World War , Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-8068-0391-9
• Karlheinz Kens, Hanns Müller: The aircraft of the First World War 1914-1918 , Munich 1973, ISBN 3-453-00404-3
• Günter Kroschel, Helmut Stützer: The German military aircraft 1910–1918 , Wilhelmshaven 1977
• Kenneth Munson: Bomber 1914–1919 , Orell Füssli, Zurich 1968
• Heinz Nowarra : The Development of Aircraft 1914–1918 , Munich 1959
• Karl Pawlas: German aircraft 1914-1918 , Nuremberg 1976, ISBN 3-88088-209-6 , page 63-65

Web links

Commons : DFW CV  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Brief description and photo
• detailed description on the EADS homepage  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )

References and comments

1. ^ J. Milanov: Aviation and aviation in Bulgaria in the wars from 1912 to 1945 , volumes I and II, publishing house of the Ministry of Defense "Sveti Georgi Pobedonosetz", Sofia 1995 a. 1997 (Bulgarian)
2. ↑ also with 185 PS (136 kW) NAG
3. ↑ moveable 7.9 mm LMG-14 "Parabellum" , from CV additionally a rigid, synchronized 7.9 mm MG LMG 08/15
4. ^ I. Borislawov, R. Kirilov: The Bulgarian Aircraft, Volume I: From Bleriot to Messerschmitt , Litera Prima, Sofia 1996 (Bulgarian)