The LFG V 59 and the LFG V 61 were single engine, twin float passenger

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s designed and built 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 ...

in 1926 by the

Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft, also referred to as LFG, was a German aircraft manufacturer during World War I. They are best known for their various "Roland" designs, notably the Roland C.II ''Walfisch'' (whale), Roland D.II ''haifisch'' (Shark) and ...

. They differed only in their engines.

Design and development

The V 59 and V 61 were both twin float seaplanes, essentially identical apart from their engines and designed to carry four or five passengers. The V 59 was powered by a

BMW IV The BMW IV was a six-cylinder, water-cooled inline aircraft engine built in Germany in the 1920s. Power was in the 180 kW (250 hp) range. World record On 17 June 1919 Franz Zeno Diemer flew a DFW F37, powered by a BMW IV engine t ...

6-cylinder water cooled inline and the V 61 by a much more powerful,

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...

9-cylinder radial. They were metal aircraft both in frame and covering, low wing monoplanes of the semi-

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 ...

kind with external bracing between the upper

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

and wing and further support from below via the flat topped floats. The wings were straight tapered with rounded tips. The fuselage was flat sided and bottomed, with windows down the side and with a braced

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

mounted on top of it. The rudder extended well below the keel. LFG V 60 and V 61

Operational history

Both the V 59 and the V 61 were entered into the German Seaplane Competition, held between 12–23 July 1926 with flights along the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

and

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coasts from

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. is one of the world's busie ...

. The V 59 did not score in the technical tests but the V 61 came sixth in them whilst not completing the whole course.

Variants

;V 59:

6-cylinder water cooled inline engine. Four passengers. ;V 61:

9-cylinder

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

. Estimated maximum speed . Five passengers.

Specifications (V 59)

References

{{LFG aircraft Floatplanes 1920s German civil aircraft

LFG V 59 The LFG V 59 and the LFG V 61 were single engine, twin float passenger seaplanes designed and built in Germany in 1926 by the Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft. They differed only in their engines. Design and development The V 59 and V 61 w ...