Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI

The Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI(Av) was a very large bomber (Riesenflugzeug), designed and built in Germany during 1918.

Development

The R.XVI, an incremental improvement to the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, was one of a series of large bombers called Riesenflugzeuge, intended to be less vulnerable than dirigibles in use at the time. The R.XVI had four engines in a push-pull configuration, mounted in nacelles large enough for some inflight maintenance by flight mechanics, housed in nacelles between the engines.^[1]

Three aircraft were ordered to be completed by Automobil & Aviatik A.G., at Leipzig-Heiterblick.^[2] Only two R.XVIs were completed and only one of these, (R.49), flew before the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The third R.XVI (R.51) was 3/4 complete at the Armistice but was never completed.^[2]

R.50 in flight.

Operational history

Flight testing was carried out by R.49 during the war from September 1918, until a landing accident in October caused significant damage which was unlikely to have been repaired. The second aircraft, (R.50), was completed in 1919 as a civilian airliner, continuing the flight test programme until being flown to Döberitz for storage in November 1919.^[2]

Specifications (Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI(Av))

Data from ^{[citation needed]}

General characteristics

• Crew: seven
• Length: 22.5 m (73 ft 10 in)
• Wingspan: 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)
• Height: 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in)
• Wing area: 340 m² (3,700 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 10,400 kg (22,928 lb)
• Gross weight: 14,650 kg (32,298 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × Benz Bz.VI (pusher) V-12 water-cooled piston engines, 400 kW (530 hp) each
• Powerplant: 2 × Benz Bz.IV (tractor) 6-cyl. water-cooled in-line piston engines, 160 kW (220 hp) each
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch wooden tractor and pusher propellers

Performance

• Maximum speed: 130 km/h (81 mph, 70 kn)
• Cruise speed: 135 km/h (84 mph, 73 kn)
• Range: 800 km (500 mi, 430 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 3,710 m (12,170 ft)

Armament

• Guns: Provision for nose, dorsal, ventral and two upper-wing machine-gun positions

Notes

1. "Zeppelin-Stakken". Retrieved 7 October 2010.
2. Haddow, G.W.; PeterM Grosz (1988). The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914-1919 (3rd ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-812-7.

References

• A. K. Rohrbach, “Das 1000-PS Verkehrsflugzeug der Zeppelin-Werke, Staaken,” Zeitschrift für Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt, vol. 12, no. 1 (15 January 1921);
• E. Offermann, W. G. Noack, and A. R. Weyl, Riesenflugzeuge, in: Handbuch der Flugzeugkunde (Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., 1927).
• The German Giants by G.W. Haddow and Peter M. Grosz.

External links

• http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.film.f/f041a A Zeppelin-Staaken R XIVa airplane lands in Aspern, 1919