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The Mannesmann Giant Triplane (also called Poll Triplane) was a giant German triplane designed and constructed during the final months of World War I. The Mannesmann Triplane was at an advanced stage of completion when the Armistice was signed.
The Mannesmann Triplane was to be a giant triplane with the middle wing spanning and the upper and lower wings spanning . The fuselage, measuring long, was rectangular in cross-section and was of plywood construction. The wheels would have measured in diameter. Power was to be supplied by ten engines mounted in tandem in five nacelles, one above the lower wing below the fuselage and four at strut intersections on the middle wing. Only the middle wing would be fitted with
Design
The Mannesmann Triplane was to be a giant triplane with the middle wing spanning and the upper and lower wings spanning . The fuselage, measuring long, was rectangular in cross-section and was of plywood construction. The wheels would have measured in diameter. Power was to be supplied by ten engines mounted in tandem in five nacelles, one above the lower wing below the fuselage and four at strut intersections on the middle wing. Only the middle wing would be fitted 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 ...
.Haddow, G.W.; Grosz, Peter M. (1962). ''The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914–1919''. London: Putnam.
Development
The Mannesmann Triplane was conceived in 1917 as a long-rangetransport
Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...
by Villehad Forssman, who had designed the SSW-Forssman R-plane. Although the Inter-Allied Aeronautical Control Commission believed it to be a long-range bomber able to reach New York, archival records of the Imperial German Navy show that Mannesmann designed the triplane as a transport plane, not a bomber. A 1920 issue of the ''Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...
'' asserted that Mannesmann's triplane project was intended to drop propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
leaflets over New York. The fuselage frame had been built at the Poll airfield near Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, and the engines, ailerons, tail, and undercarriage were yet to be shipped to the Poll airfield when construction of the aircraft was halted due to the Armistice. The airframe for the Mannesmann triplane was inspected by the IAACC team in 1919, and a section of the fuselage and one of the huge wheels of the triplane are in storage at the Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...
in Duxford
Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, about south of Cambridge. It is part of the Hundred Parishes area.
History
The village formed on the banks of the River Cam, a little below its emergence from the hills of north Essex. One of t ...
, UK.Gunston, Bill, 1991. ''Giants of the Sky: The Largest Aeroplanes of All Time''. Sparkford, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited.
See also
*Riesenflugzeug
A ''Riesenflugzeug'' (plural ''Riesenflugzeuge'', German for "giant aircraft"), sometimes colloquially referred to in English as an R-plane, was any member of a class of large World War I Imperial Germany, German bombers, possessing at least th ...
* List of large aircraft
This is a list of large aircraft, including three types: fixed wing, rotary wing, and airships.
The US Federal Aviation Administration defines a large aircraft as any aircraft with a certificated maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of more than
T ...
References
{{reflist 1910s German military transport aircraft Triplanes Ten-engined aircraft Unflown aircraft