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Halberstadt CL.IV

1918 WORLD WAR 1

Halberstadt CL. Four Stories

CL. IV is a further development of CL. II design, both aircraft are products of Halberstadt Flugzeugwerke, Germany. cl II proved to be the perfect platform for close support characters as well as in CL. IV was designed to replace this particular role.

Fielded in 1918, the type served in the last major battle of World War I, performing missions covering the full spectrum of light bombing, ground attack, night bombing, and interception, while still being capable of air combat.

CL. IV is an orthodox design with two staff. The pilot occupies the forward cockpit area behind the trailing edge of the upper wing. Visibility is a bit blurry due to the wing position, but visibility up, left and right is generally good. Pilots can use a 7.92mm Spandau LMG 08/15 synchronised machine gun.

Mounted at the very front of the fuselage, directly in front of the pilot, the engine is a water-cooled 6-cylinder in-line Mercedes D.III engine with a power of 160 hp and a two-bladed propeller. The observer/gunner sits behind the pilot (actually just behind, separated only by a plank) and operates a ring-mounted 7.92mm Parabellum LMG-14 machine gun. On the outside, CL.

The IV was designed to carry up to five 10kg bombs. The wings have the same span, a single bracket supported by parallel struts. The landing gear is conventional, with two main wheels and a tail skid.

The new design turned out to be much better than its predecessor. The cl IV is a more powerful aircraft with good maneuverability. While an excellent aircraft in terms of ground targets, the protection provided to the crew was far from excellent, forcing the pilot to take advantage of the CL's maneuverability.

Fourth, avoid ground fires. In this context, the CL. IV was used to carry out collective destructive attacks on ground forces through the use of machine guns or bombs.

Despite her stellar performance in the role, victory was further and further away from Germany until the country officially surrendered.

CL. The IV was designed by Halberstadt chief designer Karl Thies.