This robust biplane was designed by Josef Sablatnig in 1911 / 1912 on the request of the Austro-hungarian army. It was built by the Autoplan firm, owned by Warcholowski. The design was the first of Josef Sablatnig - who later went to Germany and founded his own firm which became quite successful during the war with floatplane designs. The design of this biplane was advanced for the time with the engine (a 85 PS Hiero) in the front. The fuselage was mounted in between the wings and could easily be dismantled. The pilot sat far at the back with the passenger just before the wings. The undercarriage was special, with two sets of steerable wheels with skids. The machine was successfully tested at Aspern but the A-H army had no interest. Hence development was stopped due to no customers in sight. Financially it must have been a nightmare.
Length 9,20 meter, Wing area 35,0 m2 Empty weight 500 kg, Weight at start ca. 620 kg Max. speed 110 km/hr
This picture is incidentally a rare one, it is nowhere to be seen in the A-H reference books.
Tags: 1912 Aspern Austro-Hungary Biplane Sablatnig Warchalowski
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An Austro-hungarian Lohner B.VII built under licence by UFAG [Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik A.G.] in Budapest (Hungary). The picture shows the first machine built in licence by UFAF - serial 17.51 - from a batch of 16 (serial 17.51 - 1778.
The machine is seen here without armament. The seating for the crew of two is very spacious, with pilot in front and observer / gunner at the back. At the outside of the fuselage the connection rods can be seen which activate the steering at the tail. The picture shows that visibility in front is rather obstructed by the massive water-cooled engine (Austro-Daimler 150/160 hp) and the radiator.
Because of the sweep back of the wings these Lohner machines were known as Pfeilflieger.
Tags: Austro-Hungary Biplane Flickr Lohner Pfeilflieger UFAG WW1
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An Austro-hungarian flying boat surrounded by lots of curious Italian military personnel. This Brandenburg W 13 flying boat emergency landed on 22 August 1918 after a succesfull raid on the airfield Poveglia near Melamocco (near Venice). During the raid a dirigible hangar was successfully bombed and set on fire. After the emergency landing the machine and crew was quickly captured by Italian forces.
This flying boat is the last Brandenburg W 13 built, which got the serial K434 [K meaning Kampfflugboot - Fighting Flying boat]. This W 13 was licence built by Oeffag [ Oesterreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG]. The design was done by the famous Ernst Heinkel.
When looking closely at this picture you can see that painters are painting the camouflaged dirigible hangar. Behind the Brandenburg flying boat an Italian F.B.A. flying boat can be seen - that is the rudder can be seen.
Tags: Austro-Hungary Brandenburg Flickr Flying boat Italy Lohner W 13 WW1 captured
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A rare view of the Austro-hungarian Aviatik 30.07, which was built in 1915 / 1916. The code 30.07 is the A-H Army serial given to this machine, where 30 identifies the factory (Aviatik) and 07 the 7th experimental type. The design team was headed by Professor Richard von Mises and the design was built by the Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik Aviatik (for short Aviatik). Not to be confused with the German Aviatik firm.
The unique feature of this design were the two 300 hp (!!) Daimler V-12 engines mounted inside the fuselage. Each engine drove two counter-rotating tractor propellers via gearboxes and shafts. A complex construction prone to technical difficulties.
First flight was on 2 July 1916 at the flying field Aspern (near Vienna). Due to a hard landing the machine was damaged and repair was needed. Unfortunately during a flight on 28 July 1916 the machine crashed during take-off probably due to a wrong action of the pilot.
At least the machine can be seen in immeculate condition in this picture, originating from Hungary hence the hungarian language handwriting underneath. 'Mieses hocrezi repülö' (if I read this correct) could mean something like the Airplane of (von) Mises. I could not interprete 'hocrezi' or 'hoerezi'.
I have set the horizon straight for a better view, without loosing anything from this picture.
Tags: 1915 30.07 Austro-Hungary Aviatik Biplane Bomber von Mises
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Starting in 1916 the Austro-hungarian army was interested in using cannons in aeroplanes. After discussions with the German army they selected the 7 cm (!) Skoda cannon for aviation use. The Skoda cannon was installed in a specially modified Brandenburg [Type GF Spezial] - serial 62.54 - here seen. The cannonneer was right behind the cannon and had foward vision to three smaal windows. The cannon was built slight out of the middle of the machine. The undercarriage was strengethened with two wheels each, probably because of the weight of the cannon, about 200 kg. The first flight with the cannon installed was on 4 March 1917 at Fischamend, but there is no data about the firing of the cannon. Development was likely stopped as this machine 62.54 was modified as a trainer in August 1918.
There is little to recognize of the hand written Hungarian language text.
Tags: 1918 62.54 Austro-Hungary Biplane Bomber Brandenburg Cannon Experimental Hansa-Brandenburg Heinkel Type GF
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