Wanted: Info about DFW C V

[rammjaeger]

Dear Forumites,

I am searching for additional info about the German aircraft DFW C V (DFW = Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke). This doubleseater was maybe the most frequently produced German

[rammjaeger]

Sorry, an accident happend! I hit the wrong button!

The DFW was maybe the most frequently built German aircraft (3000 produced) in WWI. Also Austrians, Bulgarians and Turks used the plane during the war. The aircraft was a design of 1916 but stayed very long in service and was fast-climbing and strong in aircombats. Despite these facts I can not find the expected amount of info in German standard sources. Some authors are even ignoring the aircraft completely. I have the technical data and some general remarks but would like to hear reports about aircombats with DFWs involved or other more lively information. Maybe there are also British or other test reports of captured aircraft available or similar stuff.

Thanks.

Hannes

[leo]

Mc Cudden reported on Dec 12, 1917

"As I dived down quite close to the Hun and opened fire with my Vickers, for my Lewis was out of action (He was flying an S. E. 5). For the next five minutes I fiught that D>F>W> from 4000 feet to 500 feet over our lines, and at kast broke off the combat, for the Hun was too good for me and had shot me about a lot. Had I persisted he certainly would have got me, for there was not a trick he did not know,so I gave that liver-covered D.F.W. best."

Hope this is of some interest.

leo

[Billy_Bishop]

Ok, here's the brief technical details, let me know if you want something more.

Engine: One 200 h.p. Benz Bz. IV inline
Span: 43 feet, 6 5/8 inches
Length: 25 feet, 10 1/8 inches
Height: 10 feet, 8 inches
Weight Empty: 2,134 lbs. Loaded: 3,136 lbs.
Max. Speed: 97 mph at 3,280 feet
Ceiling: 16,400 feet
Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Armament: One fixed, forward-firing 7.92mm Spandau machine gun,
one free-firing 7.92mm Parabellum Machine gun.

[Billy_Bishop]

Ignore my previous post, I didn't read your second one close enough.

VBR,

Al

there's a review of DFW colors&markings(w/some other details too) by Dan San-Abbott in the most recent issue of Cross+Cockade, for what its worth. JimR

The PRO website at catalogue.pro.gov.uk has at least one file in AIR 1. Document AIR 1/6c/4/56/6
This lists DFW in it's title. The contents are not accessable. This is just one file in 500 pages of titles. Best bet is book a weeks holiday and camp in the PRO!!!!

andy

[Ira_Silverman]

Hannes:

In 1995, Albatros Productions published a 36 page Datafile on the DFW C.V by Peter Grosz.

If you can't find a copy, e-mail me and I'll be more than happy to make a copy for you.

VBR,

Ira

Dear Forum Friends,
Are there any reliable publications that detail the various aircraft manufacturers of WW1,along with their owners,designers,locations,etc.Also how those companies evolved between the Wars and afterward to present day? Some of this information is known to all of us,but mostly in bits and pieces. Such research may not interest many,but I am sure would reveal some interesting surprises.
Best Wishes,
Gary

[Ira_Silverman]

Gary:

The old Putnam series provides a wealth of information on the British manufacturers. Separate volumes cover Sopwith, Westland, Shorts, Fairey, Glosters, Handley Page, DeHavilland, Bristol, Avro, Blackburn, Vickers and the Royal Aircraft Factory. I'm sure I left out a few. All are pricey and most can be found either at an avaition bookseller or through bibliofind.com.

Currently available and published by Crowood are "The Royal Aircraft Factory" by Paul Hare and "Sopwith Aircraft" by Mick Davis.

The best volume on French aircraft is the recent "French Aircraft of the First World War" by Jim Davila and Arthur Soltan, published by Flying Machines Press.

Putnam also has a volume on Curtiss aircraft.

German manufacturers fare less well. Putnam's Fokker book is less than accurate, heavily biased towards the efforts of Reinhold Platz, thus falling to author A.E. Weyl's bias against Tony Fokker. I'm still waiting for a high quality volume on the German Albatros Factory, as well as Pfalz and Dornier. Ray Rimell's Albatros Productions has some volumes available as datafiles, and Flying Machines Press is due to release Peter Grosz'a Pfalz book later this year.

Surprisingly, Austro-Hungarian manufacturers are well represented in print. There is an excellent book on the Oeffag Albatrossen, Peter Schiemer's "Die Albatros (Oeffag) Jagdflugzeuge der K.U.K. Luftfahrtruppen," published in German language by Weishaupt in 1984. Flying Machines Press has Peter Grosz's "Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War 1," and a volume on Hansa Brandenburg available.

While these books are nominally about the aircraft, their scope and nature is such that the manufacturer's history is well told.

Best regards,

Ira