Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven 947

The Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven 947 was a maritime reconnaissance floatplane built for the Imperial German Navy's (Kaiserliche Marine) Naval Air Service (Marine-Fliegerabteilung) during the First World War, the sole example of its type.[1][2][3] It was one of only three armed aircraft built by the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven amongst a variety of trainer seaplanes that they had produced for the Navy during the course of the war.[1] Number 947 was a two-bay biplane of conventional design, with twin pontoon undercarriage, and two open cockpits in tandem.[1][2] It received the Naval classification CHFT,[3] indicating an armed aircraft equipped with radio gear capable of both sending and receiving.[4]

No. 947
A forward oblique view of the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven 947
Role Maritime reconnaissance floatplane
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven
First flight 1916
Number built 1

The design bore a resemblance to a pair of trainer seaplanes produced at Wilhelmshaven (Nos 461–462) and to a design from Kaiserliche Werft Kiel (Nos 463–466), and all three designs could have been the work of the same designer or designers.[1] The machine was evaluated by the seaplane testing unit (SVK – Seeflugzeug-Versuchskommando) at Warnemünde at some point, but the records that have survived are somewhat contradictory.[1] In any case, no further examples were constructed.[1][3]


Specifications

Data from Kroschel & Stützer 1994, p.145, Gray & Thetford 1962, p.451

General characteristics

  • Crew: Two, pilot and observer
  • Length: 13.00 m (42 ft 8 in)
  • Wingspan: 15.95 m (52 ft 4 in)
  • Height: 4.00 m (13 ft 2 in)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.IV , 160 kW (220 hp)

Armament

  • 1 × trainable 7.9 mm machine gun

Notes
  1. Nowarra 1966, p.78
  2. Gray & Thetford 1962, p.450
  3. Kroschel & Stützer 1994, p.145
  4. Kroschel & Stützer 1994, p.113

References
  • Gray, Peter; Owen Thetford (1962). German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam.
  • Herris, Jack (2015). German Seaplanes of WWI: Sablatnig, Kaiserliche Werften, Lübeck-Travemünde, LTG, & Oertz: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 15. n.p.: Aeronaut Books. ISBN 978-1-935881-27-8.
  • Kroschel, Günter; Helmut Stützer (1994). Die Deutschen Militärflugzeuge 1910–1918. Herford: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn.
  • Nowarra, Heinz J. (1966). Marine Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War. Letchworth, Harts: Harleyford Publications.
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