Today's oddity is the DFW T28 Floh (Flea). I don't know what it is about this plane that has made me do over four attempts at getting the profile right. I have been annoyed every time I looked at the previous one. Today was a cold rainy and windy day, so I tore the old version up and tried again. For now I'm less annoyed.
The DFW T28 Floh (Flea) was designed by the Chief Engineer of the Deutsche Flugzeugwerke GmbH of Leipzig-Lindenthal, Dipl.Ing. Hermann Dorner. The intent was to create a high speed fighter by eliminating drag through reducing the need for struts and rigging. The name Floh translates as "Flea" in English, and this is because it looks like a small fat blob with stunted wings.
References
- The original article appeared in the February 2000 issue of Internet Modeler. "http://www.wwi-models.org/IM/German/floh.html"
- DFW T28 Flea Plans "http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=798109"
- Grosz, P. M. "Windsock Mini Datafile 18
- DFW T28 Flea" Albatros Productions Limited, 2001. ISBN: 1902207335
2 comments:
Did it ever fly?
Yes it did indeed fly. The prototype Floh made a very promising first flight in 1915 A speed of 180 Km/h was recorded, which was amazing for the time. The test flight exposed difficult landing characteristics in the design due to a narrow width of the landing gear causing instability and the high center of gravity. These flaws were compounded by the position of the pilot which reduced landing visibility. On the first flight the prototype had an extremely hard landing resulting in light damage to the wing cell. It did not enter production due to a series of unresolved issues. In spite of being successful in achieving its goal of a high speed, the German military, was not in the mood to support such an unorthodox design.
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