Zeppelin-Staaken V.G.O. III

The third in the line of the Zeppelin Riesenflugzeug (Giant Aeroplanes) was the Zeppelin V.G.O. III, serial number R.10/15. The first two in the line had been underpowered, so the VGO.III mounted six 160hp Mercedes D.III engines: two in each engine nacelle to drive a pusher propeller and two in the nose to drive a tractor propeller. Five machine guns were carried. When the R (Riesenflugzeug) category was formally created, the plane was renamed the R.III. Like the R.I and R.II, it served on the Eastern Front with R.Fl.A. 500 until it crashed on 24 Jan 1917.

Construction of the third Staaken giant had begun at Gotha in October 1915, and the reliable Mercedes D.III engine replaced the Maybach HS of its predecessors. Since the D.III engine was comparatively underpowered, the were mounted in pairs: two to drive the nose propeller and two each in the engine nacelles. Like the V.G.O.II, the front of those nacelles doubled as gunners' positions, supplementing the ventral and dorsal positions in the fuselage. It arrived at Rfa 500 on 8 Sept 1916, and it conducted about seven missions before crashing on 24 January 1917.