The LFG Roland G.I was a large prototype single-engine

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

bomber built in Germany in 1915, during World War I. It had a single engine buried in the fuselage driving

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

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 ...

s mounted on outriggers.

Design and development

The G.I was a

with a span of over . Although it had twin pusher propellers mounted between the wings and an Idflieg G designation (heavy bomber), it had only a single engine, mounted in the fuselage over the centre of gravity and linked to the propellers by gears and shafts. Hazet radiators mounted on the sides of the fuselage between the wings provided cooling to the adjacent engine. The G.I had unstaggered unequal span wings, straight edged and of 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 with three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

per side defined by parallel interplane struts. Its fuselage was flat sided with a rounded nose whose profile containing the gunner's position. the pilot's

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

was immediately behind the gunner but ahead of the wing leading edge. The Maybach Mb.IVa water-cooled six cylinder inline engine was directly behind the pilot driving two propellers placed on outriggers in the inner bays. The fuselage was tapered toward the tail, where a broad chord, triangular fin carried a rectangular rudder that extended below the fuselage. The undercarriage was conventional, with wheels on a single axle mounted on a pair of V-struts to the fuselage. There was also a tail skid and a pair of smaller wheels mounted under the nose to avoid nose-overs.

Specifications

References

{{LFG aircraft

LFG Roland G.I The LFG Roland G.I was a large prototype single-engine biplane bomber built in Germany in 1915, during World War I. It had a single engine buried in the fuselage driving pusher configuration propeller (aircraft), propellers mounted on outriggers ...

Biplanes 1910s German aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1915