The Hansa-Brandenburg W was a

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

produced in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1914 to equip the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

. Similar in general layout to the Hansa-Brandenburg B.I landplane, the W was a conventional three-bay

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 ...

with unstaggered wings of equal span. The pilot and observer sat in tandem, open cockpits, and the undercarriage consisted of twin pontoons. The NW and GNW of 1915 were a revised versions powered by a more powerful engine.

Variants

* W - initial production version with

Benz Bz.II The Benz Bz.II (manufacturer's designation Benz Type FD) was a six-cylinder, water-cooled, inline engine developed in Germany for use in aircraft in 1913.Gunston 1986, pp. 22–23 With a displacement of it developed about .Benz Type FD engi ...

engine (27 built) * NW - revised version with Mercedes D.III engine * GNW - revised version with Mercedes D.III engine

Operators

; *

Kaiserliche Marine The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term was used partic ...

; * Ottoman Air Force

Specifications (NW)

References

* * {{Hansa-Brandenburg aircraft 1910s German military reconnaissance aircraft W Floatplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1914