Kaiserliche Werft Kiel 463
No. 463–466 | |
---|---|
Role | Training seaplane |
National origin | Germany |
Manufacturer | Kaiserliche Werft Kiel |
First flight | 1917 |
Primary user | Imperial German Navy |
Imperial German Navy seaplanes 463 to 466 were a unique seaplane design produced for the Navy's flying service during the First World War.[1][2][3][4] The seaplane base at Kiel-Holtenau ordered the type as a training aircraft in 1915, and the Navy allocated a batch of four serial numbers to the design.[1] No 463 and its siblings were conventional, two-bay biplanes with unstaggered wings of equal span and two open cockpits in tandem for the pilot and instructor.[1][2] The undercarriage consisted of twin pontoons.[1][2] The large, square rudder was hinged to the rear end of the fuselage, and extended below the ventral line of the fuselage.[1][2] The inline engine was neatly cowled in, with the exhaust being collected together in a single stack that extended above the upper wing.[1][2]
Kaiserliche Werft Kiel received an order for three machines in October 1915, and the first of these (No 463) was delivered to the seaplane testing unit (SVK – Seeflugzeug-Versuchskommando) at Warnemünde the following summer.[1] It remained there under test for well over one year, and was not finally accepted for service until summer 1918.[1] This lengthy delay was possibly due to the aircraft being used as a trainer at Warnemünde itself.[1]
Two of the seaplane trainers (
Specifications
Data from Kroschel & Stützer 1994, p.154
General characteristics
- Crew: Two, pilot and instructor
- Powerplant: 1 × Benz Bz.III , 110 kW (150 hp)
Notes
References
- Gray, Peter; Owen Thetford (1962). German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam.
- Kroschel, Günter; Helmut Stützer (1994). Die Deutschen Militärflugzeuge 1910–1918. Herford: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn.
- Nowarra, Heinz J. (1966). Marine Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War. Letchworth, Harts: Harleyford Publications.
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.