The Hansa-Brandenburg C.I, also known as Type LDD, was a 2-seater armed single-engine reconnaissance biplane designed by
Ernst Heinkel
Dr. Ernst Heinkel (24 January 1888 – 30 January 1958) was a German aircraft designer, manufacturer, ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' in Nazi Germany, and member of the Nazi party. His company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke produced the Heinkel He 178, th ...
, who worked at that time for the parent company in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The C.I had similarities with the earlier
B.I (Type FD, also designed by Heinkel), including inward-sloping interplane bracing struts. Like other early-war Austro-Hungarian reconnaissance aircraft, such as C-types of Lloyd or Lohner, the Type LDD had a communal cockpit for its crew.
The C.I served in the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops in visual- and photographic reconnaissance, artillery observation and light bombing duties from early spring
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* ...
to the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The aircraft had good handling characteristics, and steady introduction of more powerful engines in successive production batches (see below) enabled the improvement of performance and thus the continuing front-line service.
Armament of the type consisted of a free-firing
Schwarzlose machine gun at the rear for the observer, and at least in some aircraft for the pilot there was also a similar fixed, non-synchronised forward-firing gun in a pod above the top wing. This latter weapon was replaced in later production examples by a synchronised Schwarzlose gun on the port side of the fuselage. The normal bomb load for the C.I was , but some aircraft could carry one and two bombs.
Production
![UFAG Brandenburg C](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/UFAG_Brandenburg_C.I.jpg)
''Data from'' Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One
[
In addition to 84 aircraft built by Hansa-Brandenburg, Phönix Flugzeugwerke (400 C.I(Ph)), Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik A.G. (834 C.I(U)) and Aero (A-14, A-15, A-26) also made the type under licence in the following batches:
; Phönix:(Brandenburg C.I(Ph))
*Series 23 and 26 with Austro-Daimler
*Series 27 with Austro-Daimler
*Series 29 with Austro-Daimler
*Series 29.5, 129, 229 and 329 with ]Hiero 6
In 1914 Otto Hieronimus manufactured the six-cylinder Hiero E, also known as the Hiero 6 engine which was derived from earlier 4-cylinder engines. The Hiero engine like the Austro-Daimler powered many of Austria's World War I aircraft. Hiero air ...
*Series 429 with Hiero 6
; Ufag:(Brandenburg C.I(U))
*Series 61, 64, 67 and 68 with Austro-Daimler
*Series 63 with Mercedes D.III
*Series 269 with Austro-Daimler
*Series 69 with Hiero
*Series 169 with Benz Bz.IVa
The Benz Bz.IV was a German six-cylinder, water-cooled, inline engine developed for aircraft use. Deliveries began in 1916, and some 6,400 were produced.
Design and development
The Bz.IV was a dual-camshaft design, with two intake and two exhau ...
*Series 369 with Hiero
;Aero
Aero is a Greek prefix relating to flight and air. In British English, it is used as an adjective related to flight (e.g., as a shortened substitute for aeroplane).
Aero, Ærø, or Aeros may refer to:
Aeronautics Airlines and companies
* Aero (P ...
(Czechoslovakia) post-war
*Aero A.14
The Aero A.14 was a Czechoslovakian biplane military reconnaissance aircraft built in the 1920s. It was essentially a slightly modified version of the Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft that Aero had built during World War I as the Ae.10, and for ...
, Aero A.15 and Aero A.26 with Walter-built 138 kW (185 hp) BMW IIIa
BMW IIIa was an inline six-cylinder SOHC valvetrain, water-cooled aircraft engine, the first-ever engine produced by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG, who, at the time, were exclusively an aircraft engine manufacturer. Its success laid the foundatio ...
;Poland (post war)
*In 1919-1920, fifteen aircraft, differing in construction and engines, were assembled by the Poles in Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
RPL-III workshops, and then in 1920-1924 some fifteen were made in Kraków workshops (known locally as Brandenburg K).[Morgała (1997), p. 44-50, 242]
;Arsenalul Aeronautic
Arsenalul Aeronautic ("Aeronautical Arsenal" in English) in Bucharest was the first factory with an aeronautical profile in Romania. Its activity took place between 1919 and 1939. ''Arsenalul Aeronautic'' manufactured three models of aircraft: Han ...
(Romania) post-war
*In the 1920s with the increase in need of training aircraft, the Romanian Ministry of War approved the construction of Hansa-Brandenburg C.I airplanes at ''Arsenalul Aeronautic'' from Cotroceni
Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 5.
The nearest Metro stations are Eroilor, Academia Militară, and Politehnica.
History
The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered ...
. The aircraft were powered by the Austro-Daimler 160 hp engine. It was the first large-scale aircraft production that took place in Romania. Between 1922 and 1923, a total of 120 Hansa-Brandenburg C.I were manufactured.
Operational history
After World War I, in 1918, 22 original Hansa-Brandenburg C.I seized by the Poles were among the first aircraft of Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
. According to some publications, it was the first Polish aircraft to perform a combat flight on 5 November 1918, flown by Stefan Bastyr (others claim he flew Oeffag C.II
The Oeffag C.II was a military reconnaissance aircraft produced in Austria-Hungary during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belliger ...
). They were used in Battle of Lemberg and then Polish–Ukrainian War
The Polish–Ukrainian War, from November 1918 to July 1919, was a conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces (both the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Ukrainian People's Republic). The conflict had its roots in ethn ...
and Polish–Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921)
* russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...
. Approximately 30 more aircraft were assembled or built by the Poles afterwards in Lviv and Kraków.[
During the ]Hungarian–Romanian War
The Hungarian–Romanian War was fought between Hungary and Romania from 13 November 1918 to 3 August 1919. The conflict had a complex background, with often contradictory motivations for the parties involved.
The Allies of World War I intended ...
, Romania used Hansa-Brandenburg C.I airplanes captured from the Hungarian Red Air Arm. By the end of the war, a total of 22 aircraft of this type were captured. The aircraft were used by the Romanian Air Force
The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) ( ro, Forțele Aeriene Române) is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five airbases and an air defense brigade. Reserve forces include one ai ...
until the mid 1930s.
Operators
;
*Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops
The Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops or Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (german: Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or , hu, Császári és Királyi Légjárócsapatok) were the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the e ...
;
*Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
(inter-war)
;
* Czechoslovakian Air Force
The Czechoslovak Air Force (''Československé letectvo'') or the Czechoslovak Army Air Force (''Československé vojenské letectvo'') was the air force branch of the Czechoslovak Army formed in October 1918. The armed forces of Czechoslovakia ce ...
(inter-war)
;
*Royal Yugoslav Air Force
The Royal Yugoslav Air Force ( sh-Latn, Jugoslovensko kraljevsko ratno vazduhoplovstvo, JKRV; sh-Cyrl, Југословенско краљевско ратно ваздухопловство, ЈКРВ; ( sl, Jugoslovansko kraljevo vojno letalstv ...
- Postwar
;
*Romanian Air Force
The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) ( ro, Forțele Aeriene Române) is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five airbases and an air defense brigade. Reserve forces include one ai ...
- Postwar
;Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Socialist Federative Republic of Councils in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szocialista Szövetséges Tanácsköztársaság) (due to an early mistranslation, it became widely known as the Hungarian Soviet Republic in English-language sources ( ...
*Hungarian Red Air Arm - Postwar
Surviving aircraft and replicas
* Airworthy Hansa Brandenburg C.I replica in Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
Specifications (Brandenburg C.I(Ph) Series 23)
See also
References
Bibliography
* Munson, Kenneth - Bombers, Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft 1914 - 1919
*
*
External links
A page about Hansa-Brandenburg C.I in Polish Air Force service
(in Polish).
{{Authority control
C.I
1910s Austro-Hungarian military reconnaissance aircraft
Military aircraft of World War I
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1916