Hansa-Brandenburg W.12

W.12

Van Berkel W-A, above cruiser Java
Role	Floatplane fighter
Manufacturer	Hansa-Brandenburg
Designer	Ernst Heinkel
First flight	Early 1917
Primary users	Kaiserliche Marine Marine-Luchtvaartdienst
Number built	181

The Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 was a German biplane fighter floatplane of World War I. It was a development of Ernst Heinkel's previous KDW, adding a rear cockpit for an observer/gunner, and had an unusual inverted tailfin/rudder (which instead of standing up from the fuselage, hung below it) in order to give an uninterrupted field of fire.

The W.12s (under the Naval designation C3MG) served on the Western Front, based at the Naval air bases at Ostend and Zeebrugge. The aircraft had some success, and one shot down the British airship C.27.

In April 1918, a W.12 made an emergency landing in the neutral territory of the Netherlands, where it was interned and flight tested by the Dutch. In 1919 the government of the Netherlands bought a licence to build the aircraft. 35 W.12s were subsequently manufactured by the Van Berkel company of Rotterdam as the W-A, serving with the Dutch Naval Air Service until 1933.

Variants

W.12 : German Navy model. 146 built.
W-A : Dutch licence-built W.12, with Benz engine. 35 built.

Operators

Specifications (W.12)

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 drawing

Data from Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: two (pilot & observer/gunner)
Length: 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 11.20 m (36 ft 9 in)
Height: 3.30 m (10 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 36.20 m² (389.5 ft²)
Empty weight: 997 kg (2,193 lb)
Loaded weight: 1,454 kg (3,206 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.III 6-cylinder inline engine, 119 kW (160 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 160 km/h (86 kn, 99 mph)
Range: 520 km (281 nmi, 320 mi)
Service ceiling: 5,000 m (16,405 ft)
Endurance: 3 hrs 30 mins

Armament

1 or 2 × fixed forward 7.92 (0.312 in) lMG 08 machine guns
1 × 7.92 (0.312 in) Parabellum MG14 in rear cockpit

References

↑ Jackson, Robert, The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, Parragon, 2002. ISBN 0-7525-8130-9

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Van Berkel W-A.

Aircraft produced by Hansa-Brandenburg

Austro-Hungarian military designations	B.I C.I C.II D.I G.I

Company designations	CC D FB FD GDW GNW GW KD K KDD KDW L.16 LDD NW W W.11 W.12 W.13 W.16 W.17 W.18 W.19 W.20 W.23 W.25 W.27 W.29 W.32 W.33 W.34

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