Dfw R.I (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles The DFW R.I was a prototype German bomber aircraft of World War I. Developed as a private venture by DFW, it was a large biplane of conventional configuration with four engines mounted inside the fuselage, powering propellers on the wings via transmission shafts - two mounted tractor-fashion on the leading edge of the upper wing, and two mounted pusher- fashion on the trailing edge of the lower wing. After factory tests proved promising, military acceptance trials commenced on 19 October 1916 and led to the aircraft being purchased for the Luftstreitkrafte. Soon thereafter trouble set in, with crankshafts repeatedly failing. This was attributed mostly to the engine design, but new engine mountings and universal joints for each end of the driveshafts were fitted to mitigate the problem. Following these modifications, the R.I was deployed on the Eastern front, where it raided Riga from Alt-Auz during the summer of 1917. On its second combat mission, the R.I crashed due to the failure of two engines, and was destroyed.