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Knoller 70

1918 WORLD WAR 1 X-PLANE

Noller 70 Stories

Austro-Hungary managed its own aviation industry alongside Germany during the First World War (1914-1918), and several designs of its own emerged during the battle. One of them came from work done by Professor Richard Knoller - which later became Knoller "70". The single-seat, single-engine biplane debuted in 1917 and was tested in 1918.

This led to the ordering of ten pre-production aircraft for additional evaluation, but the surrender of Austria-Hungary ended any future for the biplane.

Knoller 70.01 is the first of two completed prototypes. Manual labor began in England in 1917. Frasermond Air Arsenal. The general layout of the aircraft was traditional for its time, as its pilot sat in an open-air cockpit, located behind the nose engine unit and under/behind the upper wing assembly. The wings feature a biplane arrangement with no staggering, and have single cabinsone of the more interesting design elements of these members is their inherent ability to "bend" in flight as the plane accelerates, reducing drag.

The struts and cables support elements on the fuselage below and above the aircraft. The fuselage was aerodynamically improved, a large spinner was added to the nose, and the tail was tapered. The tail itself consists of a vertical fin with a horizontal plane in the middle.

The landing gear has a rear tug arrangement and is wheeled and fixed.

The dimensions of the aircraft include a wingspan of 26.2 feet, a length of 20.9 feet and a height of 9.4 feet.

Power comes from a single water-cooled Hiero 6-cylinder engine producing 230 hp and driving a twin-blade propeller on the nose. As tested, the 70.01 has an estimated top speed of 149 mph.

The proposed weapon consists of 2 x 8mm Schwarzlose machine guns, mounted on the nose and fired synchronously by rotating propeller blades.

The 70.01 prototype flew for the first time on 23 November 1917. However, it was damaged on the ground a few days after entering the testing phase.

During repairs, ailerons were installed on the upper wing members for better control, but suffered more damage during a landing operation in the spring of 1918. The 70.02 prototype was introduced in September 1918, but when the war ended in November 1918 it meant the end of the Knoller-Jager project.