Zeppelin-Staaken V.G.O. II

The Zeppelin-Staaken V.G.O. I was joined on the eastern front near Riga by the Zeppelin V.G.O. II, serial number R.9/15, another of the Riesenflugzeug (giant aeroplane). It was very similar to the V.G.O. I except for a redesigned tail and gunner's positions at the front of each engine nacelle. It was probably delivered to Ault-Auz (now in Latvia) a few weeks after Rfa 500's formation in Feb 1916, but there were several months of training and tuning before its first operation mission in August, when it attacked the rail junction at Schlok (now in Estonia) along with the Navy's V.G.O. I. It flew many successful bombing missions, and in October 1916 experiments were carried out with adding a cannon to the plane's armament.

As of 1 January 1917 it was relegated to training and experimentation as newer, better-powered R-planes were arriving at Rfa 500. At some point it was transferred back to Staaken, where it crashed for the last time probably in the summer of 1917.