Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIVa

The 'Staaken R.XIVa was a streamlined and lightened version of Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIV with an eye towards increased bomb load. It featured fully balanced control surfaces and the upper-wing gun positions were removed. Four were ordered and R.69 was too early to receive all the refinements of the others. It was delivered on 19 Oct 1918 but did not see front-line service. Instead it was seized by the Entente and delivered to Italy. R.70 and R.71 were finished in late 1918 (after the Armistice), both doing flights between Germany and the Ukraine until R.70 was seized by Romania in September 1919 and R.71 crashed during the summer of 1919. It is not known whether R.72 was ever finished.

Three other R.XIVa's were contracted to Schütte-Lanz, but none of them were completed.