The Hansa-Brandenburg W.20 was a German submarine-launched
reconnaissance flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
of the World War I era, designed and built by
Hansa-Brandenburg.
Design and development
Due to the need to be stored and launched from a
submarine aircraft carrier, the W.20 was a small single-seat biplane flying boat that was designed to be assembled and dismantled quickly.
It had a slender hull on which was mounted a biplane wing and a conventional braced tailplane.
It was powered by a seven-cylinder, 80 PS Oberursel U.0 rotary engine — basically a German-made near-clone of the
Gnome Lambda
The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several World War I-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its capacity of al ...
pre-war French rotary — mounted on struts between the wings driving a pusher propeller.
The pilot had an open cockpit just forward of the lower wing.
Because of the slender hull stabilising floats were fitted below and at the end of the lower wings.
The submarine intended to carry the W.20 was not built and only three W.20s were built.
Specifications (3rd built)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{Hansa-Brandenburg aircraft
W.20
1910s German military reconnaissance aircraft
Flying boats
Submarine-borne aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Biplanes
Rotary-engined aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1918