Roland C2 squadrons?

[1Mark66]

I'd like to know a bit more about how the Roland C2 was used. It is such a sleek looking machine, especially for its time, and I have seen references to its use as a fighter. From what I've seen, German air units often seemed to run a non-standardized mix of aircraft types, so asking about "Roland squadrons" may be meaningless. Still I would appreciate hearing from someone who knows:

Were therre units that were mainly equipped with the Roland C2 for any length of time?

To what extent were Roland C2s used as interceptors or escorts?

Any Roland C aces? (as opposed to aces who flew Rolands).

Mark66

[Dan_San_Abbott]

1Mark66:
the Rol.C.II machines were issued to Feld Flieger Abteilung in one or two per unit, i.e.FFA18 and FFA(A)227 and mixed with other aircraft, however they were issued to Schutzstaffeln 27b, Schusta 28b, and Kampfstaffeln 6 of KAGOHL Nr.1 also Kasta 36 as the single type. The Kampfstaffeln (Kasta) were a component of a Kampfgeschwader der Obersten Heersleitung (KAGOHL) Fighting Squadron of the Army High Command. Each Kasta, Schusta and FFA would be issued six aircraft, in this case six Rol.C.II.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[1Mark66]

Dan-San,

Thanks very much - just the sort of thing I hoped would be out there.
Any Roland aces? Or were Rolands not quite the fighting machine that they look? They do not apperar to have had the altitude performance for long range reconnassance, and perhaps not the ease of control to make them good artillery spotting platforms. Paper (or plywood) tigers perhaps?

Mark66

[Uhlan]

Originally Posted by 1Mark66

Dan-San,

Thanks very much - just the sort of thing I hoped would be out there.
Any Roland aces? Or were Rolands not quite the fighting machine that they look? They do not apperar to have had the altitude performance for long range reconnassance, and perhaps not the ease of control to make them good artillery spotting platforms. Paper (or plywood) tigers perhaps?

Mark66

They were quite fast for their time but suffered from several shortcomings. The C.II was apparently rather difficult to fly, partly because of bad downward visibility for the pilot which led to frequent landing accidents. The C.II also had suboptimal maneuverability, reportedly because the fuselage shape 'disrupted' the airflow to the tail surfaces, so they saw little use as fighters. This shortcoming wasn't solved until the last few batches. The Roland C.II was also a favorite obsession of British ace Albert Ball who claimed to have shot down a disproportionately large number of them in the summer and autumn of 1916 since the Roland never seems to have numbered more than 6% (IIRC) of the German front line inventory. I count 15 Roland C types in his victory tally and another two Roland D type single seat fighters out of 44 claimed victories for Ball.