Siebel Si 204

Siebel Si 204
Siebel Si 204D
Type:	Passenger plane
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Siebel Flugzeugwerke
First flight:	May - September 1940
Production time:	April 1942 to January 31, 1945
Number of pieces:	1216 (with prototypes)

The Siebel Si 204 was a German training , liaison and light transport aircraft during the Second World War .

description

The Si 204 was originally intended as a passenger aircraft for two crew members and eight passengers for Deutsche Lufthansa . The development of this all-metal aircraft began in 1938 as a government contract with the Siebel company in Halle in close cooperation with Deutsche Lufthansa. After the start of the war, the focus of development was on a blind-flying training aircraft with a full-view cockpit. Only the first two prototypeswere completed as touring aircraft with a stepped pulpit. The first flight of the V1 took place before September 1940 (possibly on May 25, 1940), the V2 before February 1941. The third prototype was redesigned from a touring aircraft to a blind flight training aircraft with a full-view cockpit. Due to this work, the first flight was delayed considerably (probably until the end of 1941).

Due to the capacity utilization of the Siebel works by the construction of the Ju 88 , only the 15 prototypes were completed in Halle. The A-1 touring aircraft and the associated pilot series were produced at SNCAN in France between April 1942 and November 1943. The company ČKD / BMM (Bohemian-Moravian Machine Factory) in the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia began building the pre-series D-0 (45 aircraft) in January 1943. The series D-1 started in March 1943 at Aero , probably at ČKD in June 1943. From August 1943, SNCAN also delivered the first aircraft of the D-1 series. In October 1944, Aero started manufacturing the D-3 series, which differed from the D-1 in terms of wooden wings and wooden tail units. In France, the D-1 series ran out after 53 aircraft had been built in August 1944 due to the war, so that a total of 168 Si 204 were built at SNCAN. BMM built the aircraft until October 1944, when it switched to spare parts production. It was planned that the D-1 should run out of Aero in March 1945 after 486 aircraft were built, while at the same time the D-3 should continue to run with 30 aircraft per month. Production at Aero probably ended after 541 aircraft were built in January 1945. This means that 1216 Si 204 including the prototypes have been produced.

After the end of the war, Aero production started again in Czechoslovakia and continued until 1949. A total of 179 machines were built from the two school versions Aero C-3A and C-3B (Cvičný letoun), the passenger version C-103 and the military transporter D-44 (Vojenská dopravní). Version A was used for navigator training and version B for bombing training.

Siebel-Si-204 replica Aero C-3A in the Aviation Museum Prague-Kbely

Construction figures of the Si 204 by January 31, 1945 :

version	Siebel	SNCAN	BMM / ČKD	Aero	TOTAL
Prototypes	15th				15th
A-0		30th			30th
A-1		85			85
D-0			45		45
D-1		53	447	approx. 477	circa 977
D-3				about 64	about 64
TOTAL	15th	168	492	541	1216

The Si 204 D was mainly used at the B and C schools as well as at FlüG 1, there possibly as a taxi plane for crews who had transferred planes to combat units. The use at the blind flight schools can only be proven sporadically, not at all at the air news schools. The Si 204 A was often used in liaison squadrons and flight readouts, but also in schools. On April 7, 1944, the first Si 204 E (W. No. 321310) converted from a D-1 took off for its maiden flight, followed on April 20, 1944 by the Si 204 V-22 (W. No. 321309) . In June 1944, five Si 204s from the current series are said to have been handed in for night battle conversion, but no other aircraft followed. Two Si 204 E with the serial numbers 251538 and 251564 are known. Whether it was used as a makeshift combat aircraft in the night battle role cannot be ruled out with certainty, because both machines were transferred to Malacky and Kraków-Balice for use at the front in October and November 1944 ( the W.Nr.251538 can be found again in Halle-Mötzig in January 1945).

Lufthansa also flew at least four Si 204: The V1 D-AEFR was tested from March to May 1941 at DLH Prague . From spring 1942 to spring 1943 the V2 D-ASGU was used in regular service. At the end of the war, a Si 204 D with the name “Rhein” stopped in Tempelhof , another in Enns in Austria .

Prototype of the Si 204:

Motor nacelle of an NC.701 from SNCAN with three-bladed propeller, Rechlin Aviation Museum

version	engine	use	First flight	Whereabouts
V1	As 410	Sample aircraft A trip	before September 1940	Works flights in November / December 1943 in Halle-Mötzig
V2			before February 1941	February 26, 1944 E -stelle crash in Rechlin
V3		Blind flight trainer aircraft	before February 1942	June 1, 1942 E -stelle Rechlin crashed
V4	As 411		before November 1942
V5		Rupture cell
V6	As 410	Testing As 410	October 23, 1942
V7		Weather plane	December 15, 1942
V8		general flight testing	May 7, 1943
V9			February 16, 1943	June 30, 1943 Bruch School C-16 Burg
V10			March 17, 1943
V11
V12				March 13, 1944 E -stelle Rechlin crashed
V13			August 12, 1943
V14	As 411	Model aircraft D-2	December 22, 1943
V15		Testing As 411	October 14, 1943
V16	As 402	Testing As 402		from A series
V19	As 411	Testing As 411		from A series, delivered to Rechlin on February 27, 1943
V22		Model aircraft E	April 20, 1944

Sources: Archives of the Federal Archives / Military Archives Freiburg and the Lufthansa Archives, Cologne

Technical data of the Siebel Si 204D

Three-sided tear

Parameter	Data
In action	1943 to 1945
crew	two men and up to five students
length	11.95 m
span	21.22 m
height	4.24 m
Empty mass	3920 kg
Takeoff mass	5400 kg
Top speed	350 km / h
Service ceiling	7500 m
normal range	1800 km
Engines	two air-cooled hanging 12-cylinder V-engines Argus As 411 each with 575 HP (423 kW)

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Manfred Franzke: Siebel Fh 104 / Si 204 variants. Air Force training and liaison aircraft. In: Airplane Profiles. No. 50, Unitec, Stengelheim.

Web links

Commons : Siebel Si 204  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Siebel Si 204

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans J. Ebert, Johann B. Kaiser, Klaus Peters: Willy Messerschmitt - pioneer of aviation and light aircraft construction. Bonn 1992, p. 207
2. ^ Hanns Motsch flight log, pp. 45–49.
3. ↑ Hanns Motsch flight log, p. 32
4. ↑ Hanns Motsch's flight log, p. 2
5. ↑ Hanns Motsch flight log, p. 4
6. ^ Hanns Motsch flight log, p. 17
7. ↑ Hanns Motsch's flight log, p. 9
8. ↑ Hanns Motsch flight log, p. 12
9. ↑ Hanns Motsch's flight log, p. 25
10. ↑ Hanns Motsch flight log, p. 32
11. ↑ Hanns Motsch's flight log, p. 30
12. ↑ Hanns Motsch flight log, p. 38