The Zeppelin Staaken R.VI was the world's first
series produced strategic bomber, created in 1916 by a group of
designers and engineers under the direction of Ferdinand Graf von
Zeppelin. It was an extraordinary airplane for that period of time
in every respect. There was no precedent for designing such machines
and that is why so many decisions had to be taken and modifications
made during the process of construction. However, as well as the
structural and technical problems which designers of these winged
giants had to contend with, there was an overriding manufacturing
problem the challenge of meeting an order for series production
and not just for a single construction. The Zeppelin concern did
not have the capacity to produce it; the initial order for the bomber
was for 15. The only way to overcome this obstacle was to subcontract
other firms to take part in production. In December of 1916 the
German Military Air Command (Idflieg) divided an order as follows:
Zeppelin was to produce three machines, Albatros OAW three also;
Aviatik was to produce another three aircraft and six airplanes
were requested from Schütte-Lanz. During production it became
clear that Schütte-Lanz was unable to cope with the task, which
is why the order was reduced from 6 to 3 units, and the Zeppelin
factories took back the order for the other threemachines.
At the end of 1917 when it became possible to test the new powerful
Basse & Selve BuS.IVa 300 hp engines, Aviatik received a further
order for an extra three machines, because the earlier machines
were already on the final stages of construction. These three additional
machines received the serial numbers R.52/17, R.53/17, and R.54/17,
and featured several differences in comparison with their predecessors.
First of all, the most visible difference was in the new shape of
the fuselage nose - the distinctive 'balcony' was lost, from which
the navigator conducted the field of fire in the front hemisphere,
and the position was raised up along with the pilot's cockpit. The
pilots were no longer inside the fuselage, but sat looking out over
the top of the fuselage, into which a special cockpit section was
cut. There was no improvement in the management of the aircraft,
in fact it complicated the process of landing to some extent. Also,
the aircraft had a central tailfin, strengthening the construction
of the empennage, and balanced ailerons were fitted. In May 1918
the first tests of the R.52/17 took place with the new Basse &
Selve BuS.IVa engines. Theseengines proved to be very disappointing
and they were not of the necessary reliability for operational use
by these aircraft, and that is why they were soon replaced by the
Maybach Mb.IVa, which had been fitted to some of the earlier Zeppelin
Staaken R.VI's.
The war career of the R.52/17 was all too short. This machine was
sent to the Front and into the inventory of Rfa 500 at the end of
June 1918. Only a month later, on the night of 11th-12th August
1918, during a raid over France, this aircraft caught fire in the
air and fell down near Villers la Tour, burying in its wreckage
Hptm. Erich Schilling and his entire crew. The next machine, R.53/17,
was delivered to Rfa 500 soon afterwards that August, but it suffered
aseries of technical problems and could not be accepted for operational
use. This aircraft was passed on to the strategic bombing training
unit in Cologne, where it met the Armistice. In compliance with
the Articles of the Versailles agreement it was destroyed in 1919.
The last of the R.VI's, R.54/17, had not even reached a finished
statewhen the Armistice agreement was signed. This machine was also
broken up in 1919.
It goes without saying that the Zeppelin Staaken R.VI was one of
the most majestic engineering achievements of World War I. Numerous
inventions and technical innovations, which were incorporated during
its production, laid the foundations for all future development
of strategic bombing in world aviation.
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