Zeppelin-Staaken R.V

The Zeppelin-Staaken R.V, serial number R.13/15, was a Riesenflugzeug (Giant Aeroplane) accepted in September 1917. The engines in the R.V were mounted with one Maybach in the nose and tandem-mounted engines in the nacelles, which meant the machine gun positions were moved to the rear fuselage rather than the nacelles. An additional armed position sat at the top of the rear wing in the Swallow's Nest. While it was originally sent to Döberitz for testing in 1917, it transferred to Scheldewindeke airfield in Jan 1918 where it spent most of its career. The first misson was a raid on Calais and Dunkirk on 25 Jan 1918. The R.V took part in the bombing raids on London in January-March 1918. It crashed on 18 Oct 1918 near Düren due to engine failure.

Unlike other Staaken R-planes, the R.V had been designed with an all-tractor engine design to improve firing arcs to the rear of the plane. With five 245hp Maybach engines, it had more power than any other Staaken plane until the R.XVI, but this increase in power caused troubles with the transmissions, delaying its acceptance from the winter of 1915/1916, when it was completed, until 29 September 1917, when these problems were finally resolved. By then a Staaken R.VI and the R.VII had already been accepted.

It joined Rfa501 at Ghent on 23 December 1917 and its first mission was a raid on Calais on 25 January 1918. Mechanical failures limited its career to only sixteen missions until it crash-landed in a fog on 18 October 1918.