Etrich Taube

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

The Etrich Taube, also known by the names of the various later manufacturers who
build versions of the type, such as the Rumpler Taube, was a pre-World War I
monoplane aircraft. It was the first military aeroplane to be mass-produced in
Germany.

The Taube was very popular prior to the First World War, and it was also used by
the air forces of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Even the Royal Flying Corps
operated at least one Taube in 1912. On November 1, 1911, Giulio Gavotti, an
Italian aviator, dropped the world's first aerial bomb from his Taube monoplane
over the Ain Zara oasis in Libya. Once the war began, it quickly proved
inadequate as a warplane and was soon replaced by other designs

The Taube was designed in 1909 by Igo Etrich of Austria-Hungary, and first flew
in 1910. It was licensed for serial production by Lohner-Werke in Austria and by
Edmund Rumpler in Germany, now called the Etrich-Rumpler-Taube. Rumpler soon
changed the name to Rumpler-Taube, and stopped paying royalties to Etrich, who
subsequently abandoned his patent.

Despite its name, the Taube's unique wing form was not modeled after a dove, but
was copied from the seeds of Alsomitra macrocarpa, which can fly long distances
from their parent tree. Similar wing shapes were also used by Karl Jatho and
Frederick Handley Page. Etrich had tried to build a flying wing aircraft based
on the Zanonia wing shape, but the more conventional Taube type, with tail
surfaces, was much more successful.

Etrich adopted the format of crosswind-capable main landing gear that Louis
Blériot had used on his Blériot XI cross-channel monoplane for better ground
handling. The wing has three spars and was braced by a cable-braced steel tube
truss (called a "bridge", or Brücke in German) under each wing: at the outer end
the uprights of this structure were lengthened to rise above the upper wing
surfaces, to form kingposts to carry bracing and warping wires for the enlarged
wingtips. A small landing wheel was sometimes mounted on the lower end of this
kingpost, to protect it for landings and to help guard against ground loops.

Later Taube-type aircraft from other manufacturers replaced the Bleriot type
main gear with a simpler V-strut main gear design, and also omitted the
underwing "bridge" structure to reduce drag.

Like many contemporary aircraft, especially monoplanes, the Taube used wing
warping rather than ailerons for lateral (roll) control, and also warped the
rear half of the stabilizer to function as the elevator. Only the vertical,
twinned triangular rudder surfaces were usually hinged.


Role
Fighter, Bomber, Surveillance, and Trainer

Manufacturer
Various

Designer
Igo Etrich

First flight
1910

Introduction


Primary user
Luftstreitkräfte

The design provided for very stable flight, which made it extremely suitable for
observation. In addition, the translucent wings made it difficult for ground
observers to detect a Taube at an altitude above 400 meters. The first hostile
engagement was by an Italian Taube in 1911 in Libya, its pilot using pistols and
dropping 2 kg (4.4 lb) grenades. The Taube was also used for bombing in the
Balkans in 1912–13, and in late 1914 when German 3 kg (6.6 lb) bomblets and
propaganda leaflets were dropped over Paris. Taube spotter planes detected the
advancing Imperial Russian Army in East Prussia during the World War I Battle of
Tannenberg.

In civilian use, the Taube was used by pilots to win the Munich-Berlin
Kathreiner prize. On 8 December 1911, Gino Linnekogel and Suvelick Johannisthal
achieved a two-man endurance record for flying a Taube 4 hours and 35 minutes
over Germany.

While initially there were two Taube aircraft assigned to Imperial German units
stationed at Qingdao, China, only one was available at the start of the war due
to an accident. The Rumpler Taube piloted by Lieutenant Gunther Plüschow had to
face the attacking Japanese, who had with them a total of eight aircraft. On
October 2, 1914, Plüschow's Taube attacked the Japanese warships with two small
bombs, but failed to score any hits. On November 7, 1914, shortly before the
fall of Qingdao, Plüschow was ordered to fly top secret documents to Shanghai,
but was forced to make an emergency landing at Lianyungang in Jiangsu, where he
was interned by a local Chinese force. Plüschow was rescued by local Chinese
civilians under the direction of an American missionary, and successfully
reached his destination at Shanghai with his top secret documents, after giving
the engine to one of the Chinese civilians who rescued him.

Poor rudder and lateral control made the Taube difficult and slow to turn. The
aeroplane proved to be a very easy target for the faster and more mobile Allied
fighters of World War I, and just six months into the war, the Taube had been
removed from front line service to be used to train new pilots. Many future
German aces would learn to fly in a Rumpler Taube.

Specifications (Rumpler Taube)

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 9.9 m (32 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 14.3 m (46 ft 11 in)
Height: 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 32.5 m2 (350 sq ft)
Empty weight: 650 kg (1,433 lb)
Gross weight: 850 kg (1,874 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes Typ E4F 4-cyl. water-cooled piston engine, 64 kW (86
hp)

Performance
Maximum speed: 100 km/h (62 mph; 54 kn)
Range: 140 km (87 mi; 76 nmi)
Service ceiling: 2,000 m (6,600 ft)

Armament

Guns: Rifles and pistols
Bombs: Hand dropped bombs



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