Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV | |
---|---|
Role | Bomber |
Manufacturer | Zeppelin-Staaken |
First flight | 25 July 1918[1] |
Introduction | 1918 |
Primary user | Germany |
Number built | 3 [2] |
Wingspan | 42.0 m (137 ft 8 in)[3]-42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[4] |
Engine | 5×245hp Maybach Mb.IVs[4] |
Armament | 5-6 MGs [5] 2,000 kg (4,500 lb)[3] of bombs |
Max Speed | 130 km/h (81 mph)[6] |
Climb | 3,000 m (9,840 ft) in 70:00[5] |
The three Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV Riesenflugzeug (Giant Aeroplanes) were probably too late to see operational service. Their serial numbers were R.46-R.48/17.[4] Since the engines were mounted in tandem in a push-pull arrangement, the gunners were placed in the fuselage rather than the rear of the engine nacelles.
They were very similar to the Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIVs. R.46/17 was delivered in August 1918 and the other two were accepted on 1 September 1918, and at least two of the aircraft saw active service on the Western Front.[1]
For more information, see Wikipedia:Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV.
Timeline
References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- Peter Gray and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. Great Britain, Putnam, 1962, 1987. ISBN 0-85177-809-7.
- G.W. Haddow and Peter M. Grosz, The German Giants; The German R-Planes 1914-1918. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 2nd Ed., 1969. ISBN 9780370000374
- W.M. Lamberton and E.F. Cheesman, Reconnaissance & Bomber Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War. Great Britain: Harleyford Publications Ltd., 1962. ISBN 9780900435027
- Kenneth Munson, Bombers: Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft, 1914-1919. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1968, Blandford Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0753721711