Siemens-Schuckert R types

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Giant Siemens-Schuckert R II aircraft

The Siemens-Schuckert R-types were extremely heavy long-range bombers of the German air force in the First World War .

The gigantic Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII

The multi-engine R aircraft were used as long-range bombers with long range and heavy bomb load for strategic bombing. Since the German airship attacks were reduced and finally stopped due to heavy losses , giant aircraft in an even larger dimension than before should be used and fill this gap.

development

The Siemens-Schuckert -Werke had already started building giant aircraft in 1914 . The engineer Villehad Forssman designed a four-engine test aircraft based on the model of the giant Russian Sikorski aircraft , which was powered by four Mercedes engines of 110 hp each. The aircraft was rebuilt in 1915 and two engines were replaced by 220 hp engines, which increased the speed slightly from 115 to 120 km / h.

Engineer Forssman's work was continued by the Steffen brothers as constructors . In 1915 they designed the three-engine RI (R.1 / 15), also known as the Steffen RI, whose maiden flight took place on May 24, 1915. The rear area of ​​the fuselage with two stacked tail girders with a triangular cross-section was noticeable here. After changes to the power transmission to the propellers with a diameter of 3.6 meters, the RI / 15 was taken over by the troops on July 26, 1915. This design was retained until the RVII.

In 1915/16 the R.II (R.2 / 15) followed with more powerful engines and enlarged wings, which, like the following R.III, was used as a training aircraft by the giant aircraft replacement department.

The R.IV – VII were further modified in terms of wingspan and engines in 1916/17, but followed the same design principle.

The motors were housed in the tubular steel fuselage for maintenance during the flight and drove the two propellers located between the wings via a gearbox with a leather cone centrifugal clutch and a shaft up to 3.60 m long. The engine was cooled by lamellar coolers on the side of the fuselage.

The six-engine R.VIII with almost twice as large a wing area as its predecessor was no longer used - the largest of the German aircraft built during the First World War. The construction of two R.VIII (R.23 / 16 and R.24 / 16) started in February 1918. Only one of the aircraft was completed in 1919, but it never flew because a gear shaft broke during testing on the ground and the airframe was badly damaged. In the fuselage there was a machine deck on which the six Basse & Selve motors, each with 300 hp, were installed. Two of them each drove the four-bladed compressed air screws by means of long-distance shafts and deflection gears. The two two-bladed lag screws were each driven by a further motor.

The planning begun in 1919 for a R.IX airliner, which was to carry up to 36 passengers with eight engines of 300 hp each, was no longer carried out.

commitment

The R types from Siemens-Schuckert, along with the DFW RI -, the VGO.I – III - and the Zeppelin R types, were the only giant aircraft that went into service. While R.II and R.III were used for training, the remaining giant aircraft came to the RFlA 501, which was in use in the Baltic States.

The report on the test flight of the R.VI in April 1916, which remained in service until November 1917, shows how things went on board the aircraft. During the six-hour flight, a connection hose to the side cooler burst and had to be sealed with rags and bandages. Then a break in the exhaust covered the fuselage in clouds of smoke and was repaired as a makeshift, eventually an engine leaked and lost oil. The crew stopped the leak and initially made up for the loss with oil from the other engines, but eventually had to stop the engine, unscrew the spark plugs, oil the cylinders and carefully restart the engine via the gearbox. Similar incidents happened on the operational flights; Here the maintenance and repair of the engines on the long-haul flights over enemy territory became a question of survival.

Technical specifications

Parameter RI R.II R.III R.IV RV / VI R.VII R.VIII
Construction year 1914 1914/15 1916 1917 1918
Intended use bomber
crew 5-6 4th 7th
length 17.50 m 16.50 m 17.70 m 17.70 m 17.50 m 21.60 m
span 28.00 m 33.00 m 34.33 m 34.33 m 38.40 m 48.00 m
height 5.20 m 4.60 m 4.60 m 7.40 m
Wing area 138.0 m² 210.0 m² 163.0 m² 189.0 m² 163.0 m² 225.0 m² 440.0 m²
Empty mass 4,000 kg 5,350 kg 5,400 kg 5,450 kg 5,400 kg 5,700 kg 10,500 kg
Takeoff mass 5,200 kg 7,150 kg 6,800 kg 6,850 kg 6,800 kg 7,500 kg 15,900 kg
water-cooled 6-cylinder in- line engines 3 x Benz Bz III ; 150 PS (110 kW) each 3 × Mercedes D IVa ; 260 PS (191 kW) each 3 x Benz Bz IV ; 220 PS (162 kW) each 3 × Mercedes D IVai; 260 PS (191 kW) each 6 × Basse & Selve BuS IVa; 300 PS (221 kW) each
Top speed 128 km / h 132 km / h 132 km / h 130 km / h 125 km / h
Climbing time to 2000 m 35 min 35 min 35 min
Service ceiling 3700 m 3500 m 3000 m 3500 m 3000 m 2950 m 4000 m
Range 520 km 520 km 500 km 520 km 920 km
Flight duration 8 h
Armament 1 MG, 500 kg bombs 3 MG, 500 kg bombs 3 MG, 500 kg bombs 6 MG, 800 kg bombs

See also

literature

  • Karlheinz Kens, Hanns Müller: The aircraft of the First World War 1914–1918. Heyne, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-453-00404-3 .
  • Günter Kroschel, Helmut Stützer: The German military aircraft 1910–1918. Lohse-Eissing, Wilhelmshaven 1977, ISBN 3-920602-18-8 .
  • Heinz Nowarra: The Development of Airplanes 1914–1918. Lehmanns, Munich 1959.
  • Günther Sollinger: Villehad Forssman. Constructing German Bombers 1914–1918. Rusavia Publishing House, Moscow 2009, ISBN 978-5-900078-62-5 .

Web links

Individual references / comments

  1. cf. Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 1914-1918.invisionzone.com
  2. one of the two giant aircraft departments (501 and 502)
  3. cf. http://multisites.phpnet.org/alaurent/zeppelin/technique/geants/GermanGiants.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / multisites.phpnet.org