The LFG Roland Pfeilflieger, (Arrow-flyer), was a German swept wing, single engine, two seat

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 ...

built 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. It made one distinguished long duration flight and served in colonial

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

Design and development

Just before

World War I 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 ...

the term Pfeilflieger was used to describe a category of

s with swept back wings, a feature adopted to provide some automatic stability. At least six other manufacturers ( Ago, DFW,

Harlan Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to: Surname * Abram D. Harlan (1833–1908), American politician from Pennsylvania * Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive * Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), America ...

, Lohner Daimler,

Sommer Sommer is a surname, from the German, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian languages word for the season "summer". Notable people with this name include: A–L * Alfred Sommer (born 1943), American academic * Alice Herz-Sommer (1903–2014), Czech-born ...

and Union) as well as LFG designed and built them, though some had less sweep than others. Most had Pfeilflieger in their name. The LFG Arrow was amongst the more strongly swept of the class. It had wings of unequal span, with

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

only on the overhung upper planes. There was marked dihedral on the lower wing but none on the upper. With three pairs of long

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s on each side, the LFG was a three bay biplane with a large interplane gap. It could be powered either by a Mercedes D.I water cooled six cylinder inline engine or by a four-cylinder inline

Argus As I The Argus As I was a four-cylinder, water-cooled, aircraft engine produced in Germany by Argus Motoren from 1911 until about 1913. The engine saw widespread use in aircraft in pre-war Germany and initially was also sold under the brand name 'Av ...

engine of the same output. The Argus engined version had a span reduced by , 81% of the wing area and a slightly longer fuselage. 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 ...

was flat sided and rectangular in section, with the engine exposed in the nose and the passenger/observer's

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

immediately behind it. In some engine installations the

radiator A radiator is a heat exchanger used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

was mounted along the fuselage side, with this cockpit between them. The pilot's cockpit, fitted like the passenger's with a

celluloid Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common present-day ...

windscreen The windshield (American English and Canadian English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from t ...

, was much further aft at about mid-fuselage with the main fuel tank between them. Because the LFG had a very broad chord, low

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

horizontal tail of the sort known at the time as "Taube type", he sat not far in front of its

leading edge The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...

. The tailplane carried an undivided

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

. There was a triangular

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

and a high, rounded and

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevator (air ...

. The Arrow had a fixed,

conventional undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Ter ...

with V-form struts, their leading members bent round into short skids laterally connected by a rod to which the wheels, on their single axle, were joined via rubber

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...

Operational history

Before the outbreak of

Bernard Langer flew a Roland Pfeilflieger, equipped with a Mercedes engine and extra tankage in place of the passenger, on a non-stop sixteen-hour flight. During the war at least one LFG Roland Pfeilflieger served with the ''

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned a ...

'' (Protection Force) in German South-West Africa, now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

between 1914 and 1915.

Variants

;Mercedes D.I engine: as described ;Argus As I engine: span ; length ; wing area

Specifications (with Mercedes D.I engine)

References

{{LFG aircraft Biplanes 1910s German aircraft Roland Arrow Aircraft first flown in 1914 Single-engined tractor aircraft