WI: Luftwaffe Used Riesenflugzeug (Giant Aircraft)

WI: Luftwaffe Used Riesenflugzeug (Giant Aircraft)

Solely inspired by the Luftwaffe airship thread.:D So the Luftwaffe finally gets the four engine bomber it always wanted and sizable bomb load to go along with it. Too bad they can't break 100 MPH........
A Riesenflugzeug (plural Riesenflugzeuge, German for "giant aircraft"), sometimes colloquially referred to in English as an R-plane, was a large World War I German bomber, possessing at least three aircraft engines, more usually being powered by four or more engines, sometimes of more than one make, model or power level. These were large multi-engine aircraft capable of flying several hours with larger bomb loads than the smaller Grossflugzeug bombers such as the Gotha G.V.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riesenflugzeug
 
they did

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_323

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-596-0367-05A%2C_Flugzeug_Me_323_Gigant.jpg
 

Deleted member 1487

WI: Luftwaffe Used Riesenflugzeug (Giant Aircraft)

Solely inspired by the Luftwaffe airship thread.:D So the Luftwaffe finally gets the four engine bomber it always wanted and sizable bomb load to go along with it. Too bad they can't break 100 MPH........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riesenflugzeug
You mean strategic bombers?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_177
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_200_Condor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_290
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika_Bomber

A major problem was the ToV that limited German engine and military aircraft development so that while everyone else was getting experience in the 1920s doing work the Germans were left to start in 1933.
 
I was more thinking of them using one of the exact same aircraft as WW1:

List of aircraft[edit]
Type Engines Span First
flight Service Notes Number
built
AEG R.I 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IV 36 m (118 ft 1 in) 1916 None broke up in flight in 1918 1 completed, 7 more partially built
DFW R.I 4 × 220 hp Mercedes D.IV 29.5 m (96 ft 9 in) 1916 Eastern Front crashed on 2nd combat flight[1] 1
DFW R.II 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 30.06 m (98 ft 7 in) 1918 Trainer as unsuitable for combat 2 of 6 ordered
DFW R.III 8 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IV 53.5 m (175 ft 6 in) n/a None Incomplete at end of war, cancelled None
Linke-Hofmann R.I 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 33.2 m (108 ft 11 in) 1917 None First example had 32.02 m (105 ft 1 in) span[1] 4
Linke-Hofmann R.II 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 42.16 m (138 ft 4 in) 1919 None Used largest single propeller ever built, some 6.9 meters in diameter 2
Poll/Forssman Giant[2] 10 × unk. engines 50.3 m (165 ft 0 in) n/a None Cancelled incomplete None
Siemens-Schuckert Forssman R 2 × 110 hp Mercedes D.III
& 2 × 220 hp Mercedes D.IVa 24.0 m (78 ft 9 in) 1915 Trainer 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.I 3 × 150 hp Benz Bz.III 28.0 m (91 ft 10 in) 1915 Eastern Front
& training [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.II 3 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 38.0 m (124 ft 8 in) 1915 Training span increased[1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.III 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 34.33 m (112 ft 8 in) 1915 Training [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.IV 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 37.6 m (123 ft 4 in) 1916 Training Span increased[1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.V 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 34.33 m (112 ft 8 in) 1916 Eastern front Span increased[1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VI 3 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 33.36 m (109 ft 5 in) 1916 Eastern front Span increased[1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VII 3 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 38.44 m (126 ft 1 in) 1917 Eastern front [1] 1
Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII 6 × 300 hp Basse und Selve BuS.IVa 48.0 m (157 ft 6 in) n/a None 2 (one unfinished)
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.I 3 × 240 hp Maybach Mb.IV 43.5 m (142 ft 9 in) n/a None Wrecked unflown, 1915[note 2] 1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.II 3 × 240 hp Maybach Mb.IV 33.2 m (108 ft 11 in) 1916 None [note 2] 1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.III 3 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 37.0 m (121 ft 5 in) 1917 Evaluation [note 2] 1
Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.IV 4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 37 m (121 ft 5 in) 1918 None [note 2]
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.I 3 × 240 hp Maybach HS
or 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1915 Kaiserliche Marine [note 4]
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.II 3 × 240 hp Maybach HS 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1916 Eastern front
& trainer [note 4][1]
Zeppelin-Staaken VGO.III 6 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1916 Eastern front [note 4][1]
Zeppelin-Staaken R.IV 2 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III
& 4 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1917? Eastern front
& Western front One built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.V 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1917? Western front One built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI 4 × 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1917? Western front 18 built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VII 2 × 160 hp Mercedes D.III
& 4 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1917 None Wrecked on delivery
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIV 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1918 Western front Three built
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIVa 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5.5in)[note 3] ? Post-war Seized while smuggling
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XV 5 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5.5in)[note 3] 1918 Western Front
Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI 2 × 530 hp Benz Bz.VI
& 2 × 220 hp Benz Bz.IV 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] 1918 Airliner Two completed, 3rd unfinished[note 5]
Zeppelin-Staaken L 4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] ? None Floatplane variant. Wrecked in trials.[note 6] 1
Zeppelin-Staaken Type 8301 4 × 245 hp Maybach Mb.IVa 42.2 m (138 ft 5 in)[note 3] ? floatplane airliner 3 built for Kaiserliche Marine 3
 
Why the hell would a 1930s air force use WW1 aircraft?????

Imagine a massive attack on London with thousands of extremely slow moving biplane bombers.:D:D

On a more serious note though some of them did have a pretty good bomb load better then some WWII bombers.
AEG R.1: Bombs: up to 3,800kg (8,377lb)
 

Deleted member 1487

He's talking about the Germans using this plane in WWI.
[/IMG]
No, he explicitly said in WW2. The Luftwaffe was the air service in WW2, the Luftstreitskräfte in WW1. Based on other answers in this thread is definitely means WW2.
 
No, he explicitly said in WW2. The Luftwaffe was the air service in WW2, the Luftstreitskräfte in WW1. Based on other answers in this thread is definitely means WW2.

If you want to discuss WW1 capabilities thats cool too, I was really just copying the airship thread.
 

Deleted member 1487

If you want to discuss WW1 capabilities thats cool too, I was really just copying the airship thread.

Then he's obviously off his rocker. :p
Exactly ;)

No offense Barca, just mystified by WW1 tech would be remotely viable in WW1. The R-aircraft would fly low and slow, which though a problem for night fighters would be prime targets for 1940s AAA. Like airships their time had past. The Germans weren't really into using the outmoded stuff, they wanted the modern flashy new technology (like any good rich western military) and let even useful stuff go, like the Hs123.

Now an interesting thread, one I think I've even started on this forum, is having the Hs123 get a bunch of production as a CAS aircraft and used almost like helicopters, directly attached to armor divisions to provide on demand CAS because it could operate so far forward (and had to due to range) from any flat surface in any weather condition (even Russian mud that stopped ALL aircraft). Reading about it, it had a fraction of the turn around time of the Ju87 and was remarkably tough, almost like a 1930s A-10.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henschel_Hs_123#World_War_II_.28service_from_Poland_to_Greece.29
General Guderian was continually impressed by the quick turnaround time offered by II.(Schl)/LG 2. Often positioned as the Luftwaffe's most-forward based combat unit, the Hs 123 flew more missions per day than other units, and again proved their worth in the close-support role. With Ju 87s still being used as tactical bombers rather than true ground support aircraft and with no other aircraft capable of this mission in the Luftwaffe arsenal, the Hs 123 was destined to continue in service for some time more, although numbers were constantly being reduced by attrition. The Hs 123 was not employed in the subsequent Battle of Britain as the English Channel proved a formidable obstacle for the short-ranged aircraft. The sole operator, II.(Schl)/LG 2 went back to Germany to re-equip with the Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter bomber (Jabo) variant. The Bf 109E fighter bomber was not capable of carrying any more bombs than the Hs 123. It did however, have a greater range and was far more capable of defending itself. On the downside were the notoriously tricky taxiing, ground handling and takeoff/landing characteristics, especially exacerbated with a bomb load.
At the beginning of the Balkans Campaign, the 32 examples of the Hs 123 that had been retired after the fall of France were taken back into service to equip 10.(Schl)/LG 2. The aircraft performed well enough to warrant its use in Operation Barbarossa.


The greatest tribute to the Hs 123 usefulness came in January 1943 when Generaloberst Wolfram von Richthofen, then commander-in-chief of Luftflotte 4, asked whether production of the Hs 123 could be restarted because the Hs 123 performed well in a theater where mud, snow, rain and ice took a heavy toll on the serviceability of more advanced aircraft. However, the Henschel factory had already dismantled all tools and jigs in 1940.[3]

http://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.com/2011/06/hs-123-and-its-odd-success.html
 
Top