Zeppelin-Staaken R.VII

Zeppelin-Staaken R.VII
Role	Bomber
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Flugzeugwerft GmbH, Staaken, Berlin
Designer	Graf von Zeppelin
First flight	1917
Primary user	Luftstreitkräfte
Number built	1

The Zeppelin-Staaken R.VII was six-engined large bomber - a Riesenflugzeug - of Imperial Germany intended to be less vulnerable than the airships in use at the time.

The R.VII, an incremental improvement on the almost identical Zeppelin-Staaken R.IV, had two engine pods each with tandem pusher engines, large enough for some in-flight maintenance by flight mechanics housed in cockpits forward of the nacelle engines, driving the large pusher propellers throuch clutches, gearboxes and shafts. A further two engines were mounted in the nose of the fuselage driving a single tractor propeller in similar fashion.

First flown early in 1917, the sole R.VII (R.14/15) was accepted by the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) on 3 July 1917 and assigned to Rfa 501 on 29 July 1917. Used in operations on the Western Front, the R.VII had a short operational life, crashing due to a clutch failure and the incorrect actions of a flight mechanic with the loss of six crew members.

Data from The German Giants

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

provision for up to six machine-guns

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