Rohrbach Roland

Ro VIII Roland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrbach_Roland

The Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland was an airliner produced in Germany during the
1920s. It was a conventional strut-braced, high-wing monoplane, based loosely on
the Zeppelin-Staaken E-4/20 that Adolf Rohrbach designed in 1920. It had a fully
enclosed flight deck and passenger cabin, and featured fixed, tailskid
undercarriage. Power was supplied by three engines, one in the nose, and two
mounted in nacelles on the wings. Construction was of metal throughout.

In 1926 Deutsche Luft Hansa purchased the prototype Roland, followed by five
production examples over that year and the next. The production machines were
built with open flight decks, although they were later enclosed, as on the
prototype. These were put to work servicing a route between Berlin and London
via Hanover and Amsterdam. In July 1927 the Roland held the world endurance
record for a payload of 1,000 kg with a flight of 14 hours 23 minutes, and the
world distance record for a payload of 2,000 kg of 1,750 km (1,090 mi). At
different times, the Roland held twenty-two world records.

In 1928, Luft Hansa replaced three of its Rolands with new machines of slightly
different design. Designated Ro VIIIa, these had a fuselage that was stretched
by 30 cm (1 ft) and were powered by the more powerful BMW V engines in place of
the BMW IVs fitted to the prototype and first production batch. A new Spanish
airline, Iberia, purchased the three Rolands that Luft Hansa retired, and put
them into service on its inaugural service between Madrid and Barcelona.

In 1929, Rohrbach produced nine examples of a substantially updated Roland for
Luft Hansa. These featured a major redesign of the flight deck, and a new wing
design. Dubbed the Roland II, these aircraft continued in service with the
airline until 1936 on its Hamburg–Malmö and Berlin–Munich routes. Luft Hansa
sold at least three of these aircraft to Deruluft upon retirement. The Luftwaffe
acquired another one, armed it, and operated it at the clandestine school at
Lipetsk to train bomber crews.

During his 1932 election campaign, Adolf Hitler hired a Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland
aeroplane from Deutsche Luft Hansa for his two first series of campaign flights
in March and July. The aeroplane was named Immelmann I after World War I pilot
Max Immelmann. Hitler switched to a Ju 52 in November 1932.

Variants

Ro VIII Roland I
Initial version powered by three 250 PS (246.58 hp; 183.87 kW) BMW IV 6-cylinder
in-line water-cooled engines.

Ro VIIIa Roland Ia
Three aircraft purchased by Deutsche Luft Hansa, with a 0.30 m (1 ft) fuselage
stretch, powered by three 360 PS (355.08 hp; 264.78 kW) BMW V 6-cylinder in-line
water-cooled engines.

Ro VIII Roland II
A significantly up-graded version for Deutsche Luft Hansa, with revised cockpit
and re-designed wing, powered by three BMW V engines; nine built.

Specifications (Ro VIIIa Roland Ia)

General characteristics
Crew: 3 (2 pilots + 1 engineer)
Capacity: 10 pax
Length: 16.4 m (53 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 26 m (85 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 88 m2 (950 sq ft)
Empty weight: 4,900 kg (10,803 lb)
Gross weight: 7,400 kg (16,314 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × BMW Va six-cylinder in-line water-cooled piston engines 240 kW
(320 hp) - 270 kW (360 hp) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 204 km/h (127 mph, 110 kn)
Cruise speed: 165 km/h (103 mph, 89 kn)

Landing speed: 106 km/h (66 mph; 57 kn)
Service ceiling: 4,200 m (13,800 ft)
Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 5.5 minutes; 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 13
minutes
Wing loading: 84 kg/m2 (17 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.0973 kW/kg (0.0592 hp/lb)




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