The Focke-Wulf A.16 was a German three/four passenger light transport monoplane designed by

Heinrich Focke Henrich Focke (8 October 1890 – 25 February 1979) was a German aviation pioneer from Bremen and also a co-founder of the Focke-Wulf company. He is best known as the inventor of the Fw 61, the first successful German helicopter. Biography ...

and

Georg Wulf Georg Wulf (1895-1927) was a German aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer. Biography Wulf was born 17 May 1895 in Bremen. He was the son of a customs agent. He attended the high school on Dechanat Street. Around 1910, Henrich Focke, with th ...

and was the first design built by the newly formed

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

company.

Development

With the success of their earlier designs, Focke and Wulf formed the

company in 1924 and their first design was an all-wood three/four passenger airliner or light transport, the A.16, first flown by Georg Wulf on 23 June 1924. At least 20 aircraft were built; according to

Airbus Industrie Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, 23 were built. Airbus has built another one in the last ten years, though not airworthy, which is on display at

Bremen Airport Bremen Airport (German: ''Flughafen Bremen'', ) is the international airport of the city and state of Bremen in Northern Germany. It is located south of the city and handled 2.66 million passengers in 2015. It mainly features flights to Europea ...

. The A.16 was a high-wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

monoplane of conventional configuration. The wing used a thick airfoil. The pilot sat in an open cockpit above the wing while the passengers were carried in the enclosed fuselage below. The tailskid undercarriage featured large wheels mounted on each side of the fuselage.

Variants

;A.16a :Variant powered by a 100 hp (75 kW)

Mercedes D.I The Mercedes D.I (also known as the Type E6F) was a six-cylinder, water-cooled, SOHC valvetrain inline engine developed in Germany for use in aircraft in 1913. Developing 75 kW (100 hp), it powered many German military aircraft during t ...

engine.Stroud ''Aeroplane Monthly'' January 1987, pp. 41–42. ;A.16b :Variant powered by an 85 hp (63 kW)

Junkers L1a Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded there in Dessau, Germ ...

engine.Stroud ''Aeroplane Monthly'' January 1987, p. 42. ;A.16c :Variant powered by a 100 hp (75 kW)

Siemens-Halske Sh 12 The Siemens-Halske Sh 12 was a nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft built in Germany in the 1920s. First run in 1925, it was rated at 80 kW (110 hp). The Sh 12 was also produced in the United States by Ryan Aeronautic ...

engine. ;A.16d :Variant powered by a 120 hp (89 kW)

Mercedes D.II The Mercedes D.II was a six-cylinder, SOHC valvetrain liquid-cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler during the early stages of World War I. Producing about 110 to 120 hp, it was at the low-end of the power range of contemporary eng ...

or D.IIa engine.

Specifications (A.16c)

References

"The Focke-Wulf A.16: An Interesting German Commercial Aeroplane"
''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'', 15 January 1925. Vol XVII, No. 838. pp. 27–28. * Stroud, John. "Wings of Peace". ''

Aeroplane Monthly ''Aeroplane'' (formerly ''Aeroplane Monthly'') is a British magazine devoted to aviation, with a focus on aviation history and preservation. __TOC__ ''The Aeroplane'' The weekly ''The Aeroplane'' launched in June 1911 under founding edito ...

'', January 1987, Vol. 15, No. 1. pp. 40–45. * The

Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft The ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' was a weekly partwork magazine by Aerospace Publishing (an imprint of Orbis Publishing) which was published in the United Kingdom (and sold in other countries too) during the early 1980s. The magazine ...

(Part Work 1982–1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1835

External links

* www.histaviation.com
Focke-Wulf A16
{{Focke-Wulf aircraft 1920s German airliners A 16 Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1924