Zeppelin Staaken R.V

National origin: Germany
Manufacturer: Schutte-Lanz
Designer: Graf von Zeppelin
First flight: 1917
Primary user: Luftstreitkrx¤fte
Number built: 3
Variants: Zeppelin Staaken R.VII, Zeppelin Staaken R.XIV, Zeppelin Staaken R.XV, Zeppelin Staaken R.XVI,

The Zeppelin Staaken R.V was one of a series of large bombers called Riesenflugzeugen intended to be less vulnerable than dirigibles in use at the time.

Development

In 1916, Zeppelin moved development of large bombers to Staaken, Germany. The R.V was co-developed alongside the R.VI and R.VII. The Staaken Bomber had two engine pods with four engines in a push-pull configuration and tractor engine in the nose. The pods were large enough for some in-flight maintenance.

Operational history

The Model R.IV was selected for production rather than the R.V because of geared engines that posed a higher developmental risk. Each R-series aircraft required ground crews of 50 men.

Operators

German Empire

Specifications (Zeppelin Staaken R.V)

General characteristics

Crew: 7
Length: 22.1 m (72 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)
Height: 6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 332 m (3,570 sq ft)
Empty weight: 7,921 kg (17,463 lb)
Gross weight: 11,848 kg (26,120 lb)

Performance

Endurance: 7 Hours
Service ceiling: 3,300 m (10,827 ft)

A. K. Rohrbach, “Das 1000-PS Verkehrsflugzeug der Zeppelin-Werke, Staaken,â€� Zeitschrift fx¼r Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt, vol. 12, no. 1 (15 January 1921);
E. Offermann, W. G. Noack, and A. R. Weyl, Riesenflugzeuge, in: Handbuch der Flugzeugkunde (Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., 1927).
The German Giants by G.W. Haddow and Peter M. Grosz.

"Stakken IV". http://www.roden.eu/HTML/055.htm. Retrieved September 27, 2010.

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Source: WikiPedia