Hansa-Brandenburg B.I (Type D/FD)

History

Ernst Heinkel - whose German company Heinkel gained notoriety during World War II - designed a series of reconnaissance aircraft for the Hansa-Brandenburg company during World War I. The B.I is one such aircraft, two unarmed reconnaissance platforms that sometimes reach the front lines. Although the B.I was a serviceable aircraft in its own right, it laid the groundwork for the more powerful C.I and C.II aircraftwhich were armed reconnaissance versions with more capabilitiesthat began to appear in 1916.

The first flight of the B.I took place in 1914 and was subsequently delivered to the k. U.K. Aviation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The B.I hull has a boxy appearance with board edges, a straight top and a slightly forward curved bottom. The engine is mounted at the very front of the design and drives a two-bladed wooden propeller. As a biplane, the B.I has upper and lower wing assemblies, the two wings are offset in position and have unequal spans (the upper assembly has a larger span). Each wing has two bays with parallel struts and proper wiring. The pilot sits just behind the engine compartment and behind and below the upper wing assembly.

The pilot is accompanied by his observer, who is located behind him in a combined cockpit area - that is, the B.I does not have two separate cockpits, as is common in other two-seaters in other countries. The fuselage tapers to the tail, with a single vertical tail and horizontal plane.

The B.I's landing gear is nothing more than two supported and fixed main gears attached to a simple tail skid under the tail. B.I did not carry self-defense weapons.

B.I 1,680 lbs empty and 2,340 lbs gross. The range is listed as 190 miles, with a top speed of 78 mph. A service ceiling of 10,500 feet can be reached at a climb rate of 430 feet per minute.

There are two main variants of B.I. While both retained their base military designation "B.I", Lufthansa-Brandenburg designated the company names "Typ D" and "Typ FD" to denote their distinction on specific engines. The Model D was the original production form and was powered by the Benz Bz. Series II engines. The FD type was the second production form and was powered by Benz Bz.

Series III engine, 160 hp.

Aero was a Czechoslovak company that produced the B.I as the "Ae 10" both during the war and in the years following, and this experience was invaluable to the company when developing other derivatives. Besides Austria-Hungary, another notable B.I user is Norway.

Poland used this type in its Polish Air Force in the postwar years.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Dimensions

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Performance

Armor

Changes