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DFW T.28 Floh (Flea)

1915 WORLD WAR 1 X-PLANE

DFW T. 28 History of Fleas (Fleas)

DFW T. 28 "Floh" ("Floh") Probably one of the ugliest biplanes ever designed, it was the Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke of the German Empire during the First World War (1914-1918) The product. It made a monumental maiden flight in 1915, when wars were still raging in Europe. The T. 28 was designed along the lines of a high-speed biplane fighter, but its performance was so poor that it was largely forgotten when the fighters of the war left.

Major design flaws include extremely poor forward visibility due to the deep fuselage, an unsightly appearance due to the rather thin fuselage, and an oversized tail that adds some comical design elements.

In the best case, the only prototype crashed on the first landing - reducing the likelihood that the design would be adopted by the Luftwaffe for wartime production.

In terms of design, the T.28 imitated the established biplane features of the time - biplane main aircraft structure (single cabin, parallel center strut), fixed wheel landing gear and an open-air cockpit pilot. The engine drives a two-bladed wooden propeller, mounted on the nose as usual. Dimensionally, the aircraft was small by the standards of the time, measuring 14.8 feet in length and with a wingspan of 21.3 feet. Curb weight is 925 lbs and total weight is 1,435 lbs.

Drive is provided by a 100-horsepower, water-cooled Mercedes D.I inline-piston engine. Topping out at 112 mph during its maiden flight, the armament was fairly modest - just a 1 x 7.92mm LMG 08/15 Spandau machine gun in a fixed forward firing position.

The Flea appeared in late 1915, when chief designer Hermann Dorner was trying to develop a compact, fast and maneuverable fighter to compete with the emerging Allied type (World War I The Air Combat was one of a winning and a losing initiative). The result was one of the more unique offerings, and certainly one of the more memorable pieces, from World War I fighters. Construction involved the usual cloth-on-wood method, and while the Flea achieved an impressive top speed of over 100 mph in testing, it suffered damage on landing that hampered the project's range.

When it might become relevant again, the attention of German authorities has shifted to more traditional fighter designs and configurations with better performance and weapons support.