radius of action

frontflieger · 18 December 2004, 04:28 AM

Hi,

I'd like to know: what was the radius of action of either the airplanes (like Fokker Dr, or Albatros D V... - Gothas - Rumpler, Albatros C...) or of the units (like Jastas, FA A, Schustas...). Thanks for you info.

Thorsten

Albatroid · 18 December 2004, 07:09 AM

It seems to me that every time an author mentions combat radii in WW1 the values are not expressed in exact numbers- "about 2 hours" "about 90 minutes" and so on. It seems likely that aircraft manufacturers would have documented the endurance of their planes at combat weight at various altitudes and throttle settings. Then again, the performance envelopes of these craft tended to be a bit tight and given their infancy I would bet that like horseback riding even the weight of the pilot would affect performance to a measurable degree. Speed also fell off with altitude, hence figures I've got for the Albatros D.V of 117 mph at 3,280ft and 96mph at 13,100ft. In the absence of specific endurance data for the Albatros D.V and assuming 2 hours, I just use the runners rule of getting there and back which makes the documented speed a rough expression of combat radius.

To further complicate matters, the missions of pursuit aircraft usually included a patrol assignment which implies flying a given distance along a specific line or loitering over a particular sector. In order to achieve that, they would have to be stationed close enough to the front to make it feasible- within 20 miles or so in order to gobble gas in the climb and arrive on target with enough endurance left to execute their patrols. If memory serves this was one of the reasons that the Germans adopted the policy of not venturing far behind the lines- that way a fuel starved Albatros or Fokker could get some assistance from the prevailing westerly winds and reduce its chances of being captured. Terribly imprecise and a whole ton of speculation, but that's all I have to go on. Hopefully another Aerodromer will ring in with some precise figures and enhance and/or correct what I've written here.