The DFW R.III was a

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

()

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

aircraft to be built by the (DFW) during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

for the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

's () Imperial German Air Service (). Design work had begun two months before the end of the war in November 1918, but was terminated at that time before construction began.

Development

The Inspectorate of Flying Troops ( ordered two improved versions of the company's preceding R.II bomber on 3 September 1918. That aircraft's flying performance was mediocre and more power was thought to be the answer. More powerful engines were not available so the number of engines was doubled to eight Mercedes D.IVas in the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

. Each was to be connected to a

coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable has a wire conductor in the centre (D), a circumferential ou ...

contra-rotating propeller Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers (CRP) coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single engine piston powered or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propellers i ...

in a

push-pull configuration An aircraft constructed with a push-pull configuration has a combination of forward-mounted Tractor configuration, tractor (pull) Propeller (aircraft), propellers, and backward-mounted (pusher configuration, pusher) propellers. Historical The e ...

via a

driveshaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect ...

. The propeller

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

es were to be housed in a

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...

between the wings that also contained the fuel tanks. Another concept examined was use pairs of engines geared together to a single propeller, also in a push-pull arrangement. One or two auxiliary

Mercedes D.II The Mercedes D.II was a six-cylinder, SOHC valvetrain liquid-cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler during the early stages of World War I. Producing about 110 to 120 hp, it was at the low-end of the power range of contemporary en ...

engines would drive

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

s that could maintain the R.III's performance up to an altitude of .Herris, p. 243 The pilots' cockpit was located under the trailing edge of the upper wing and the

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

had his own compartment forward of the wings. The aircraft was intended to be armed with eight machine guns in twin-gun mounts, fired by gunners located in upper nose, lower nose, ventral and dorsal positions of the double-decker fuselage. The R.III was required to be able to lift of bombs.

Specifications (as designed)

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

*
The German D.F.W. Commercial Four-Engined Biplane
''Flight'' 25 September 1919, vol. XI, no. 39, pp. 1274–1278. The R.III is described and illustrated o

{{Idflieg R-class designations R.III 1910s German bomber aircraft