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Zeppelin R Class
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Zeppelin R Class
please note:
- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
- it has been imported raw for GetWiki
{|- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
- it has been imported raw for GetWiki
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name | R Class |image=File:L 31 in Luft.jpg |caption=L 31 (LZ 72), an R-class Zeppelin, in flight |
factoids | |
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type | Bomber and patrol airship |national origin=Germany |manufacturer=Zeppelin Luftschiffbau |designer=Ludwig Dürr |first flight=28 May 1916 |introduced= |retired= |status= |primary user=Imperial German NavyGerman Army |more users= |produced= |number built=17 |variants with their own articles= |
Background
Work on the R class started in March 1915, when the German Navy asked both Zeppelin and Schütte-Lanz to prepare studies for a new class of airship which would be limited in size by the existing sheds. The proposals were rejected by the Navy's aviation department, and a decision was made to design a new class of six-engined airships regardless of size. Double sheds at Tondern and Seddin were to be lengthened and six new double hangars would be constructed, four of them at a new base at Ahlhorn. A new large assembly shed was built at Friedrichshafen, and a second Zeppelin factory at Staaken near Berlin was established.Robinson 1971, pp.153-4Design and development
Influenced by aerodynamicist Paul Jaray, the hull shape was more streamlined than the preceding P class, although traditionalists in the company insisted that a portion of the hull should be parallel sided to prevent instability. The structure consisted of 20 wire braced 13-sided transverse frames, all but the rear three and front two frames made up of kingpost-braced girders. These were spaced 10 m (32 ft 9 in) apart, with an intermediate frame in the middle of each bay, and were attached to a triangular section ventral keel, the apex of which was braced to the ends of the outer ends of the lower transverse frame girders on each side. The transverse frames were connected by 13 principal longitudinal girders, of which the one at the top of the hull was a more substantial W-section girder. There were secondary longitudinal girders between the principal girders. A central axial bracing cable running the length of the hull was fitted to reduce the load on the transverse bracing of the mainframes in the case of the deflation of a single gasbag. This feature was the subject of a Schütte Lanz patent, and had not previously been used by Zeppelin.Robinson 1974, p. 119As in the preceding P and Q classes, the forward control car contained a single engine driving a pusher propeller and an aft engine car contained three engines, one driving a pusher propeller at the rear of the car and the other two driving propellers mounted on brackets on either side of the hull via driveshafts: these were reversible. Unlike the previous design, which had the three engines mounted in line, the two engines driving the hull-mounted propellers were side by side. The additional two engines were carried in small engine cars either side of the hull, accessed by a catwalk from the keel gangway.The bomb load was carried in a compartment in the centre of the keel. The keel also accommodated the rubberised canvas ballast bags and the main fuel tanks, which could be jettisoned in an emergency. Fuel was pumped from these tanks to individual gravity tanks above each engine car. As a legacy of the loss of the crew of LZ 54 (L 19), two lightweight lifeboats, made of canvas stretched over a wooden frame, were carried. A total of 10 machine guns were carried as defensive armament: three in the forward platform on top of the hull, one in an aft gun position behind the rudders, two in both the forward and aft gondolas and one in each of the wing cars either side of the hull.Robinson 1974, p. 120Following the loss of four of the first R class Zeppelins to be built during raids on England, a decision was made to develop airships capable of operating at greater altitude, and most of the remaining R class were modified in order to reduce weight: one engine was removed from the aft gondola, the defensive armament was removed and the bomb load reduced by half. This increased the ceiling to over 4900 mn (16,080 ft)Robinson 1974, p.128 Later an improved streamlined rear gondola was fitted.Service history
The R class was brought into service at a time when the air defences of Britain were becoming much more capable, with the introduction of mixture of explosive and incendiary rounds used by the defending aircraft. Four were lost during raids on England before the end of the year. The first R class to be constructed was LZ 62 (L 30), first flown on 28 May 1916 and commissioned two days later, when it was flown to Nordholz carrying Count Zeppelin as a passenger.Robinson 1971, p. 153 After taking part in nine bombing raids and making 31 patrol flights it was decommissioned in November 1917: it was broken up in 1920.Robinson 1971, p. 387By the end of November the next four to be constructed had all been shot down while bombing England. On 24 September LZ 76 (L 33), its gasbags holed by antiaircraft fire, came down at Little Wigborough. Although the crew tried to set fire to it, little hydrogen was left in its gasbags and examination of the wreckage provided the British with a great deal of information about airship construction, which was used in the design of the R33-class airships.Higham, R The British Rigid Airship. London: Foulis, 1961. , p.181 The same night LZ 74 (L 32) was shot down in flames over Billericay.Robinson 1971, p. 188 On 2 October LZ 72 (L 31), which had been commissioned on 14 July and was commanded by Heinrich Mathy, the most successful airship captain of the war, was shot down in flames over Potters Bar by Lt. Wulstan Tempest,Cole and Cheesman, pp. 174-6 and on 27â28 November L 34 was brought down in flames off the coast at Hartlepool by 2nd Lt. Ian Pyott.See also
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs|ref=Douglas Robinson, Giants in the Sky, p.120|prime units?=met|genhide=|crew= 21 |length m=|length ft=644|length in=8|length note=The first two examples were about 1.5 m (5 ft) longer.|dia m=|dia ft=78|dia in=5|height m=|height ft=|height in=|height note=|volume m3=|volume ft3=1949600 |volume note=|empty weight kg=|empty weight lb=79600|empty weight note=L 30. Weights varied.|gross weight kg=|gross weight lb=|gross weight note=|max takeoff weight kg=|max takeoff weight lb=|max takeoff weight note=|fuel capacity=|lift kg=|lift lb=141200|lift note=L 30|more general=|eng1 number=6|eng1 name=Maybach HSLu|eng1 type=6-cylinder inline piston engine|eng1 kw=|eng1 hp=240|eng1 shp=|eng1 note=|power original=|prop blade number=|prop name=|prop dia m=|prop dia ft=|prop dia in=|prop dia note=|perfhide=|max speed kmh=|max speed mph=62.5|max speed kts=|max speed note= (Typical figure: trial speed of individual examples varied slightly)|cruise speed kmh=|cruise speed mph=|cruise speed kts=|cruise speed note=|range km=|range miles=|range nmi=|range note=|combat range km=|combat range miles=|combat range nmi=|combat range note=|ferry range km=|ferry range miles=|ferry range nmi=|ferry range note=|endurance=36 hours|ceiling m=|ceiling ft=13000|ceiling note=|time to altitude=|fuel consumption kg/km=|fuel consumption lb/mi=|power/mass=|more performance=|guns= 10 machine guns: naval airships generally using the water-cooled MG 08, army ships the air-cooled Parabellum MG 14|bombs=~ (5 lt)}}Notes
{{reflist}}References
- Cole, Christopher and Cheesman, E. F. The Air Defence of Great Britain 1914â1918. London: Putnam, 1984. {{ISBN|0-370-30538-8}}.
- Robinson, Douglas H., Giants in the Sky Henley-on Thames: Foulis, 1973 {{ISBN|0-85429-145-8}}
- Robinson, Douglas H., The Zeppelin in Combat Henley-on Thames: Foulis, 1971 (3rd ed) {{ISBN|0-85429-130-X}}
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