Rohrbach Ro IX

Rohrbach Ro IX Rofix
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Rohrbach
First flight:	Late 1926
Commissioning:	-
Production time:	1926
Number of pieces:	2

The Rohrbach Ro IX Rofix was a fighter aircraft made by the German manufacturer Rohrbach Metallflugzeugbau GmbH . It was designed by Kurt Tank , who had been building up and managing the construction department at Rohrbach since February 1924.

history

The order to build the Rofix was based on a visit by a Turkish delegation to the plant of the subsidiary Rohrbach Metal-Aeroplan Co A / S in Kastrup near Copenhagen . A trial order for two machines was placed with the prospect of a total order for 50 copies. Construction work began in April 1926, and the first prototype (serial number 22) was completed in the summer of 1926 . The design of the Rofix was based on a previous project that Rohrbach carried out on behalf of Mitsubishi in 1924. This was the unrealized Miro naval fighter plane that was to be used on aircraft carriers.

On January 27, 1927, the first machine crashed, the pilot Werner Landmann remaining uninjured, but the machine broke. Although the flight and landing properties were generally assessed as good, the poor spin properties led to multiple modifications with different V-positions of the wing. After the conversion, the prototype was flown not only by the factory pilots but also by well-known pilots such as Paul Bäumer , Joachim von Koeppen and Ernst Udet .

The delivery of the second prototype to Turkey was scheduled for July 20; the aircraft was already provided with the corresponding national emblems. During a demonstration flight on July 15, however, the plane crashed near Kastrup Airport, and the pilot Paul Bäumer was killed. On this 48th flight of the Rofix, Bäumer rose to an altitude of 5000 meters, flew a few rolls , and then spun to 3000 m . He managed to take the machine out of the spin as planned. After restarting the spin, the pilot was unable to exit the spin again. The attempt to save with the parachute came too late and the machine fell into the sea. Tank was an eyewitness to the accident and suspected that the engine speed was too low and thus ultimately a pilot error during the escape attempt as the cause.

Shortly after the accident, Rohrbach had all the documents relating to the Rofix collected and destroyed. Until the dissolution of his company, he made no further attempt to deal with fighter planes.

construction

The Rofix was a single-seat, semi-cantilever high - decker in all-metal construction with a water-cooled twelve-cylinder BMW VI engine . The trapezoidal wing was designed in two parts and had a recess in the area of the driver's cab. The V-position was varied several times to improve the spin properties. The wing was connected to the fuselage via a canopy made of profile tubes. A cable was used for tensioning on both sides.

The fuselage with an elliptical cross-section consisted of three assemblies. The load-bearing outer skin was formed by a thin dural sheet . The fixed landing gear was supported by struts vertically upwards against the wings and at an angle to the front against the underside of the fuselage. The suspension was provided by spiral steel springs.

Wooden propellers were used on both prototypes . The plan was to install two machine guns with 500 rounds of ammunition each, which would either fire through the propeller circle or be built into the wings.

Technical specifications

Three-sided view

Parameter	Data
crew	1
length	9.50 m
span	14.00 m
height	3.70 m
Wing area	28.0 m²
Wing extension	7.0
Empty mass	1320 kg
Takeoff mass	1850 kg
Top speed	285 km / h at an altitude of 3000 m
Service ceiling	8000 m
Range	770 km
Engines	a BMW VI water-cooled 12-cylinder in a 60 ° V-shape standing with 440 kW (600 hp) starting power and 330 kW (450 hp) continuous power

literature

Karl R. Pawlas: Aviation Lexicon, Rohrbach Ro IX Rofix , Article ID: 3101-100-6
Wolfgang Wagner: Kurt Tank - designer and test pilot , Bernard & Graefe, 1980, ISBN 3-7637-5271-4
AIR International November 1991, Fighter A to Z, Rohrbach Ro IX Rofix

Web links

Commons : Rohrbach Ro.IX Rofix - Collection of images, videos and audio files