The LFG Roland D.XVII was a single-seat, single-engine, parasol wing German

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

flown close to the end of World War I. Only one was built.

Design and development

The D.XVII was the last of LFG's line of single-seat fighters. It combined features of their previous two models, the D.XV and D.XVI: it had the engine and fuselage of the third D.XV but was a parasol wing aircraft like the D.XVI. LFG Roland D

Despite the common configuration the wings of the D.XVI and D.XVII were different. The D.XVIIs wings had constant

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

and overhung ailerons. It was mounted over the fuselage on each side with an inverted V-form strut pair from the leading edge to the lower fuselage

longeron In engineering, a longeron and stringer is the load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural ...

and a second strut from the rear wing spar to the same longeron further aft. The structure was stabilized laterally with a further outward leaning strut between top of the forward V-strut and the upper fuselage. The D.XVII shared the flat-sided, tapered fuselage of the third D.XV, a tailplane mounted to the rear horizontal knife edge, a small fin and an almost semicircular rudder which was entirely above the tailplane. The D.XVII was powered by a BMW IIIa six cylinder, water-cooled inline engine driving a two-bladed

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. The fixed

conventional undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

was standard for the time, with a rigid axle mounted to V-struts attached to the lower fuselage longerons, plus a tailskid faired into a small ventral fin. The D.XVII was rolled out on 18 October 1918 in time for the third D-type competition held at Adlershof that month but was judged inferior to the

Fokker V 29 The Fokker E.V was a German parasol-monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The E.V was the last Fokker design to become operational with the ''Luftstreitkräfte,'' entering service in the last mont ...

, another parasol wing, BMW III powered design. The Roland's wing oscillated in turns and stalled without warning at low speeds.

Specifications

References

{{Idflieg D-class designations Parasol-wing aircraft 1910s German fighter aircraft

LFG Roland D.XVII The LFG Roland D.XVII was a single-seat, single-engine, parasol wing Germany, German fighter aircraft flown close to the end of World War I. Only one was built. Design and development The D.XVII was the last of LFG's line of single-seat fighter ...

Aircraft first flown in 1918

Design and development

Specifications

See also

References