German Schlastas

[Phil]

I noted that there is little here on the German Ground attack aircraft specificly the Halberstadt and Hannover CL (Ground contact) aircraft, and that Hansa-Brandeburg Flying boats flown by Christiensen out of Ostend, any intention to add these to the list of aircraft, I would offer my assistance if there is a need

Great idea !

German two seaters ARE under represented IMHO. Please do not forget the hard worked fleigerabdurlungin Albatros, AEG, DFW, LVG and Rumplers C class aeroplanes. They had a greater effect on the war by reconnaissance and artillery observation than all the scouts put together (but I could be wrong on this point).

Best reguards, Shag

Phil, I want more info on Halberstadts and Hannovers. Why don't you help us all out and post
more info. right here at your own posting. For example, did those great planes serve as night
fighters also? I have seen paint schemes (illustrations) that would suggest that they did.
ONce the great Spring offensive in 1918 was over,
how did those aircraft serve? Thanks.

[Phil]

The Halberstadt CLIV "Fighting Scout" was a used as a night bomber against troop concentrations in the Summer and Fall in 1918

Technical Details:

Engine: 160 Hp Mercedes In line
Armament: 1/2 FF Spandau, 1 RF Parabellum
5 22 Lb bombs, and anit personel Grenades
Max Speed: 112 MPH
Range: 300 Miles
Ceiling: 21,000 Feet

[Phil]

Technical Read outs on the Hannover CL series

CL II/III/IIIa

Wingspan: 11.95M/11.70M/same as III
Length: 7.8M/7.58M/same as III
Height: 2.75M/2.80M/same as III
empty weight: 750Kg/717Kg
Engine: 180HP Argus/160HP Mercedes/180HP Argus
Speed: 165Km/hr/165 Km/hr
Ceiling: 7700M/7500M
Range: 3h 30 min/3Hr.
Armament: 1FF Spandau, 1 RF Parabellum

Used in ground attack the Hannovers were dangerous opponents, since they had a biplane tail which improved the gunner's field of fire on a rear attacking opponent.

Ground attack armament coming
CLII was the more numerous 639 built, the CLIII was smaller and lighter but not a fundemental improvement, only 537 were built

Hannover CL series;
Produced by Hannoversche Waggonfabrik A.G.
developed under guidance of Hermann Dorner
The Argus 180hp was the AS III(6-cyl. in-line)
The Mercedes 160hp was the DIII (same as the engine in fighters, this made it necessary to revert to the Argus engine for most production.)
It was a good, tight, compact design- and rugged.
Its most noticable features were a deep bellied fuselage and a low mounted upper wing which gave unparalelled visibility in a German 2-seater. Many allied pilots mistook it for a fighter and were soon corrected by fire from the rear seat gunner!
McCudden (who kept painstaking notes on all enemy A/C he met) wrote about the Hannover:
"I went down to engage him and found he was a Hannover, a machine which has a bi-plane tail, and although I fired a lot at him at close range, it had no other effect than to make him dive away, which made me think that perhaps they were armoured."
The British dubbed them 'Hannoverannas'

[wingstrutdotcom]

The book "German Military Aircraft of WWI" by Grey and Thetford contains an excellent description of how the Schlastas are organized and employed in operations. It is interesting to read and even more so to learn that the units only comprised of 6 planes per Schlasta.

[Phil]

Thank you for all insights, I have a line on some more technical information on the Junkers J1 and the Rumpler C series, The J1 was purpose built for ground contact work, and a fair number were produced (221) however, does anyone know if an Ace ever shot one down, have not read anything about encounters with Junkers during WWI.