1914

[Roser]

Hi,

i'm looking for info on German planes used ion the Western Fropnt during 1914

[Roser]

I'm looking for the use of the planes during the last months in 1914.

[CaptainLewis]

All right, all right already!!!

All the captions, photos, and drawings (all done by John Batchelor) which follow are from Purnell's magazine series, HISTORY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR. All quotes are from D.B. Tubbs' article, also from that series, “THE AIR WAR” (issue #20, featuring “Christmas Truce 1914”):

“The Germans had only one ‘pusher' type in service, the Otto biplane. They did, however, possess many excellent aero-engines based on motor-racing engines... Water-cooled engines, on the motorcar principle, were popular because it was realised that a big, powerful engine could support a large airframe, thus fulfilling two of the army's demands: a high ceiling and long range. By the outbreak of war, Germany held the altitude record at 27,500 feet, and the endurance record at 24 hours.”

Regarding flechettes (“pointed steel darts... Issued for anti-personnel bombing”):
“Nobody took these weapons seriously, althogh a senior German officer, General von Meyer, was to be fatally wounded by flechettes from a French aeroplane on December 6 [1914].”

“The Aviatik BI was one of the prototype German two-seater reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War. This sort of design - two-bay biplane with an in-line tractor engine and two crew - was common up to the war's end.”

[CaptainLewis]

“The German air force, meanwhile, found respite from unreileved corps duties in sporadic propanganda raids. Single aeroplanes over flew the ‘Entrenched Camp' of Paris, defended only by a few school aeroplanes and pilots under trainng. On September 1 a Taube dropped bombs on Montmartre and near the Gare Saint-Lazare, killing four civilians. Next day propaganda leaflets wear dropped urging the French to give in ["Gare" is French, indicating a train terminus- C.L.]. On October 11 two bombs fell on the cathedral of Notre Dame, and next day the target was the Gare du Nord. Paper streams were also released over Nancy: Nantzig, ville a bientot allemande (Nancy, soon to be German)...”

A type much favoured by the Germans was the Taube (dove), so called because of the shape of the wings, which possessed large trailing portions at their outboard ends. Lateral control on this type of aircraft was effected by differential warping of these trailing portions. The Taube type, here represented by the Austrian designed Etrich Taube, was used mainly for reconnaissance. Although superseded by faster, stronger and more maoeuvrable biplane types, Taubes [really, we should use the German plural, Tauben- C.L.] continued in service up to 1916.

Engine: Mercedes 6-cylinder in-line water-cooled engine, 120 hp

Maximum Speed: 62.5 mph

Ceiling: 8,705 feet

Span: 47 feet 0 5/8 inches

Length: 32 feet 3 3/4 inches

Loaded weight: 1,914 lbs.

[CaptainLewis]

"The Pfalz A1 reconnaissance machine in use during the first few months of the war was merely a German-built copy of the French Morane-Saulnier Type L.”

[CaptainLewis]

“... In the early months of war, German machines flew 200-mile reconnaissance flights over the French positions daily, bringing back valuable information to corps headquarters, as the Germans, unlike the French and the British, had aircraft at corps level from the start, landing with their messages beside corps' HQs.”

“It was not until October 5, however, that the French claimed their first victim in aerial combat, an Aviatik biplane brought down by Sergeant Frantz and his mechanic in a Voisin pusher. They used a Hotchkiss mitrailleuse as their offensive weapon.”

AVIATIK B1
This aircraft first appeared in 1914, and was derived from the prewar P 15A. As it appeared originally, it lacked the fixed fin shown here, and possessed struts bracing the ends of the upper mainplane from the outer pairs of interplane struts. Its power was provided by a 100 hp Mercedes D I engine. The type was only produced in very small numbers.

[CaptainLewis]

“Several German machines were ‘driven down' by unarmed combat - that is to say RFC pilots harried them with aggressive tactics until they preferred to land.”

HANSA-BRANDENBURG D
An orthodox two-seater, only about 12 examples were built for the German army. The fuselage was of steel tube construction covered with ply, and the rest of the structure was of the normal wooden construction with fabric covering.

Engine: Benz Bz II, 110 hp

Span: 43 feet 0 7/8 inches

Length: 27 feet 8 7/8 inches

[CaptainLewis]

Flying against Imperial Russia:
“On the German side aeroplanes made valuable reconnaissance flights, as they were doing on the Western Front, and there were some casualties. Russian gun-fire brought down a German machine the Battle of Lemberg on September 5, while on the following day the Germans made the mistake they had already made twice in the west: they employed a Zeppelin on low-level tactical work. Airship L V was brought down and captured, complete with its crew of 30.”

The Albatros BII was in service with the German air services from before the war well into 1915 as a first line aircraft. In common with other Albatros reconnaissance types, it had an immensely strong fuselage made up of plywood skinning on a basic wooden rectanular framework. Despite the exposed engine it is clear that some thought has been given to streamlining in the design of the relatively pointed nose.

Engine: Mercedes 6-cylinder in-line, 100 hp

Maximum Speed: 66 mph

Climb: About 260 feet per minute

Ceiling: 9,840 feet

Endurance: 4 hours

Span: 42 feet

Length: 25 feet

Loaded weight: 2,356 lbs.

[CaptainLewis]

"By 1914 the German and Austro-Hungarian emires had many aeroplane factories and two main types had been more or less standardised: monoplanes known, from their back-swept wings and spreading tail, as Tauben (doves) and a biplane series also notable for a back-swept trailing edge know, for this reason, as ‘arrows'. The wing plan in each case was based on the work of Etrich and Wels in Austria, who had discovered that such a wing form produced inherent stability, providing a steady platform for aerial observation. The need for rapid manoeuvring in aerial combat had not been foreseen.”

“There was no organised air warfare in the Mediterranean between August and December 1914. Austrian aeroplanes and seaplanes, however, made regular reconnaissance flights over Allied shipping blockading the Dalmatian coast. A few bombs were dropped but no damage was done.”

LOHNER B1 (Austrian)
Engine: Austro-Daimler 120 hp

Armament: none

Speed: 81 mph

Ceiling: 8,500 feet

Span: 44 feet 2 inches

Length: 25 feet 11 inches

Weight Empty/Loaded: 1,268/1,940 lbs.

[VonHelton]

Originally posted by CaptainLewis@Dec 22 2003, 03:57 PM
[b] “The Germans had only one ‘pusher’ type in service, the Otto biplane. They did, however, possess many excellent aero-engines based on motor-racing engines... Water-cooled engines, on the motorcar principle, were popular because it was realised that a big, powerful engine could support a large airframe, thus fulfilling two of the army’s demands: a high ceiling and long range. By the outbreak of war, Germany held the altitude record at 27,500 feet, and the endurance record at 24 hours.”
Saved for posterity........

:)

I'll be referring back to this statement later on.........

[Barker]

Originally posted by VonHelton@Dec 22 2003, 10:44 AM
[b]
I'll be referring back to this statement later on.........
Don't forget The Bavarians.
:)

[VonHelton]

Don't forget The Bavarians.
:)
You know WHY I saved that statement, right?

:)

[Barker]

"Factories document when significant changes are made to their product"

[vonLemming]

24 hours is a long time to keep an aeroplane up?