Austria - 1917 Lloyd C.V

I have been busy working on drawing up a few American Expeditionary Force aero squadron insignias and some Austrian profiles this weekend. Slowly but surely I am filling the gaps in my profile library.

A Rooster Tail Two Seat Reconnaissance Aircraft

Lloyd C.V serial number 46.21 - 1917

The Lloyd C.V was a reconnaissance aircraft produced in Austria-Hungary during the First World War. It was a departure from Lloyd's previous reconnaissance types, which had all been based on a pre-war design. The C.V was a more compact and streamlined aircraft with an unusual wing structure.

The design was fairly conventional, except for the interplane struts. These were arranged in two sets, front and rear, with the rear sets consisting of two struts per wing, and the forward sets of only one strut per wing. When viewed from the front of the aircraft, the rear struts formed a V-shape, converging to the point where they met the lower wings. From bottom wing to top, the single forward struts sloped inwards towards the center line, matching the angle of the inboard rear struts. The fin was triangular and similar to the unit on earlier Lloyd designs, but featured an extension at the top of the rudder that reached over the top of the fixed part of the fin. With its curved leading edge and scalloped trailing edge, this rudder resembled the tail of a rooster.

The wings departed from the conventional structure of one or more spars surrounded by airfoil-shaped ribs and were built instead from ribs surrounded by longerons that stretched span-wise along the wings. This was all then covered in plywood sheeting. While this made for a strong, light structure, it also meant that repairs to damaged wings were difficult, and proved impossible to carry out in the field. Damaged aircraft were sent to depots for exchange. Another problem was that moisture trapped inside the wings had no way to escape quickly. This could cause the plywood skin to buckle or delaminate.

Lloyd built 96 C.Vs in 1917, powered by Austro-Daimler engines, while WKF built another 48 with Benz engines. The type saw only brief front-line service before being relegated to secondary duties. A number of continued in service after the war with the military forces of Poland, Hungary, and the Ukraine. In Poland, six; aircraft were operated until 1924

References

1. Lloyd C.V. (2009, December 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:38, July 2, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lloyd_C.V&oldid=334771034
2. Grosz, Peter M. (2002). "Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One". Colorado: Flying Machine Press.
3. Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). "Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation". London: Studio Editions.

Austria - 1917 Lloyd 40.08 Luftkreuzer

Those Crazy Austrian Odd Birds and Why We Love Them

Sometimes you see something which tickles your humor gland. For me it usually is one of the bizarre designs by an Austrian madcap designer.

It makes me think of a bad joke. "An Austrian aircraft designer walks into the Luftfahrtruppen office with a brick which has 8 wings pasted on it. The clerk asks 'What it is?'; The designer says 'It is a revolutionary new fighter aircraft design.' The clerk looks at it again and says 'Wunderbar! We need 200 of them! How quickly can you get it into production'?"

Forget about functionality, forget about aerodynamics and some cases forget about it actually flying at all. These planes are more sculpture than aircraft. Rube Goldberg must be smiling somewhere.

I had been hunting down information on this bird and luck was with me. I want to thank Lord K. from Dieselpunk for the missing pieces to the puzzle. I was able to find a rough line drawing photos, and a dodgy color drawing to guide me in making this profile.

Lloyd 40.08 Luftkreuzer - 1917

The Lloyd Luftkreuzer was a very bizzare and unsuccessful triplane bomber which was first proposed in 1916. It was plagued with design flaws which were never solved to the degree that never let it leave the ground. It never made it past the prototype stage of development.

The prototype Lloyd Luftkreuzer was based on the requirement of LFT (Luftfahrtruppen) to develop a modern and powerful bomber powered by three engines. In August of 1915 LFT approached two companies, Lloyd and Oeffag Phönix who were awarded funding to construct two prototype triplane heavy bombers. The machine should be driven by one powerful engine in the main hull and two engines in smaller side mounted boom style fuselage. The next requirement was the ability to carry a 200 kg bomb load and endurance of at least 6 hours. Defensive armament would provided by four machine guns, two of the guns should be mounted on the main fuselage and the other two guns would be mounted in the side hulls.

In January of 1916, Ungarische Lloyd Flugzeug und Motorenfabrik AG was supplied with the first drawings and specifications for two triplane bombers called Luftkreuzer I (type I, LK), designation was changed to the Lloyd 40.08 and the Luftkreuzer II (type II, LV) was renamed the 40.10 Lloyd. The name "Luftkreuzer" means Sky Cruiser.

Lloyd 40.08 Luftkreuzer

The aircraft was a triplane with unequal span wings. The upper wing had a span of 23.26 meters and a width of 2.40 m. The middle wing was 22.38 m long and 2.20 meters wide. The lower wing span was 16.84 meters and 2.00 meters wide. The middle wing was mounted to the bottom of the booms and center fuselage. The upper and lower wings were connected by struts and bracing. The gap between the two upper wings was 2.10 meters and the two bottom gap was 1.75 meters. The total wing area was 110 square meters. Below the main body between the upper and lower wings was an enclosed gondola, apparently the bombardier rode in this position

The forward section of the central fuselage had a large enclosed cabin for two gunners. The design provided an excellent field of vision in all directions. In the rear section of the main hull there was a engine compartment for the 12 cylinder 300 hp Daimler water cooled engine, driving a wooden two-blade pusher propeller.

The gun stations were also equipped with a spotlight. The side hulls were built from modified Lloyd C. II fuselage. Both were fitted with a six-cylinder water cooled inline Daimler engine producing160 hp each. Both ot the two blade wooden propellers revolved in the same direction.

The machine was completed on June 8, 1916 and was ready for engine testing at the airport in Aszód. The aircraft was found to be very nose-heavy and the center of gravity was too high. During ground tests prototype suffered some minor damage when it nosed over and flipped. This prompted a redesign of the chassis and the addition of a third wheel under the nose to keep it from toppling nose first into the ground. After the redesign the prototype was ready for its test flight in October of 1916,. Oberleutnant Antal Lany-Lanczendorfer was the test pilot for the flight. The flight seems to be unsuccessful because there is no evidence that the aircraft actually got airborne. In early November Flars (Fliegerarsenal) considered reducing the bomb load in order to reduce the total take-off weight. Development continued at a snail''s pace. In December Flars recommended the installation of additional chassis rails. These were added to the main undercarriage.

In March 1917 Lloyd applied for a revision of the airplane, but the application was rejected and the work came to a halt. The Lloyd 40.08 airframe placed in storage until January of 1918 when it was ordered to be transported to aircraft cemetery in Cheb.

References

1. Knights of the Air Made in Hungary http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/knights-of-the-air-made-in
2. Lloyd 40.08 Valka Cz http://en.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/t/66002
3. Grosz, Peter, The Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One. Flying Machines Press, 2002, ISBN 1-891268-05-8

Austria - 1915 Lloyd FJ 40.05

All Revved up and Waiting for the Calvary to Arrive

Lloyd FJ 40.05 - 1915

There is always an element of frustration when working on rare and exotic aircraft. I have found the material to do a profile drawing, however I am missing specifications of do a proper entry on my site. The line drawings I had found left much to be desired, Fortunately I found excellent color photos and some information in an article by The Internet Modeler site By Jaroslaw Kierat. His model of this rare war bird is superb. His work was essential in completing my profile drawing. I am trying to contact him for the data I am missing to complete my article. Hopefully he will be able to help me with the specifications I cant find. Until then The profile posted in my Austrian Profile Gallery will have to do. (update: I got the information I needed to flesh out the specification. Thanks Jaroslaw you ARE the Man!)

The primary stumbling block to the evolution of an effective fighter aircraft was the inability to fire into the forward arc without losing a propeller. Until the machine gun synchronization was invented, various aircraft manufacturers tried of solutions including pusher engine configuration attaching metal plates to the propeller, firing sideways, mounting a machine gun on the upper wing to fire over the arc of the prop, etc. None of these stop-gap measures proved to be the optimal method to achieve the goal of creating a truly efficient fighter-craft.The Lloyd Company designers tried a radically different approach to solve the problem. In 1915 they designed a two seat aircraft designated FJ (Flugzeugjäger) and received the Austro-Hungarian Air Force designation 40.05.

Their design was unusual to say the least. The over-sized nose section of the FJ.40.05 filled the entire space between both wings. Immediately behind the upper wing's trailing edge was the machine gunner's post with an excellent field of fire. However, this solution reduced the pilot's front view as he sat behind this portion of the plane. The plane first flew in January 1916 but was not accepted by the Air Force. During 1916 the Lloyd 40.05 was converted to a single seat fighter fitted with a 0.315 in (8 mm) Schwarzlose machine gun in a Type II VK gun pod which pilot's referred to as the "children's coffin"). The Austro-Hungarian Air Force (der Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen - K.u.K. LFT) wasn't interested in this version either and it was never put into production.

Austria - 1917 Lloyd 40.15

Hunting Odd Birds Take Two

Lloyd Triplane - 1917

Without further ado I present you with another ugly duckling of early Austrian aviation development. I have that feeling of pride which is usually reserved for parents of ugly babies who are compelled to show pictures to every long-suffering stranger they meet. Awwwww see my little precious one!

The Austro-Hungarians built many bizarre aircraft, and the Lloyd 40.15 was no exception. The Lloyd 40.15 triplane fighter prototype was a rather ungainly aircraft with a lot of unique features. It had fully cantilevered wings, probably of mixed veneer and fabric construction. It appears that the wings were originally designed to be all veneered with tipperons. Then the wing construction was changed to a veneer/fabric construction. On the middle wing, rotating wingtip ailerons were fitted. The lower wing was mounted behind the undercarriage struts. The plane was powered by a 185 hp (138 kW) Daimler and was armed with twin fixed, forward-firing 0.315 in (8 mm) Schwarzlose machine guns, mounted within the pilots reach.

References

1. Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon, Fighter A To Z, Air International
2. Grosz,Peter M. Haddow, George. Schiemer, Peter. Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One. Flying Machines Press, 1993. ISBN 0963711008,
3. WW1 Aero 71 (dec 78), available from http://www.ww1aeroplanesinc.org