Hansa-Brandenburg C.I

Infobox Aircraft
name=Hansa-Brandenburg C.I


caption=
type=Reconnaissance aircraft
manufacturer=Hansa-Brandenburg
designer=Ernst Heinkel
first flight=
introduced=1916
retired=
status=
primary user=Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops
more users=Polish Air Force
produced=
number built=1318
variants with their own articles=

The Hansa-Brandenburg C.I, also known as Type LDD, was a 2-seater armed single-engine reconnaissance biplane designed by Ernst Heinkel, who worked at that time for the parent company in Germany. The C.I had similarities with the earlier B.I (Type FD, also designed by Heinkel), including inward-sloping interplane bracing struts. Like other early-war Austro-Hungarian reconnaissance aircraft, such as C-types of Lloyd or Lohner, the Type LDD had a communal cockpit for its crew.

The C.I served in the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops in visual- and photographic reconnaissance, artillery observation and light bombing duties from early spring 1916 to the end of World War I. The aircraft had good handling characteristics, and steady introduction of more powerful engines in successive production batches (see below) enabled the improvement of performance and thus the continuing front-line service.

Armament of the type consisted of a free-firing Schwarzlose machine gun at the rear for the observer, and at least in some aircraft for the pilot there was also a similar fixed, non-synchronised forward-firing gun in a pod above the top wing. This latter weapon was replaced in later production examples by a synchronised Schwarzlose gun on the port side of the fuselage. The normal bomb load for the C.I was 60 kg, but some aircraft could carry one 80 kg and two 10 kg bombs.

Production

In addition to 84 aircraft built by Hansa-Brandenburg, Phönix Flugzeugwerke (400 aircraft produced) and Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik A.G. (834 aircraft produced) also made the type under licence in following batches:

;Phönix

*Series 23 and 26 with 160 hp Austro-Daimlers
*Series 27 with 185 hp Austro-Daimlers
*Series 29 with 210 hp Austro-Daimlers
*Series 29.5, 129, 229 and 329 with 200 hp Hieros
*Series 429 with 230 hp Hieros

;Ufag

*Series 61, 64, 67 and 68 with 160 hp Austro-Daimlers
*Series 63 with 160 hp Mercedes D.IIIs
*Series 269 with 200 hp Austro-Daimlers
*Series 69 with 200 hp Hieros
*Series 169 with 220 hp Benz Bz.IVas
*Series 369 with 230 hp Hieros

Operators

;flag|Austria-Hungary
*Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops;POL
*Polish Air Force (post-war)

pecifications (Hansa-Brandenburg C.I Series 23)

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

crew=2, pilot and observer
capacity=
length main= 8.20 m
length alt= 26 ft 10¾ in
span main=13.12 m
span alt= 43 ft 0⅜ in
height main= m
height alt= ft in
area main= 43.46 m²
area alt= 468 ft
airfoil=
empty weight main=
empty weight alt=
loaded weight main= 1,060 kg
loaded weight alt= 2,332 lb
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=

engine (prop)= Austro-Daimler water-cooled in-line
type of prop=
power main=160 hp
power alt=118 kW
max speed main= 125 km/h at sea level
max speed alt= 78 mph,68 knots
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main=
range alt=
ceiling main= 5,800 m
ceiling alt= 19,000 ft
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main= kg/m²
loading alt= lb/ft²
more performance= *Endurance:~ 3 hours

armament=* 1 or 2 × 8 mm Schwarzlose machine gun(s)
* Up to 100 kg of bombs

References

* Munson, Kenneth - Bombers, Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft 1914 - 1919 ISBN 0 7537 0918 X

ee also

aircontent
related=

similar aircraft=
Albatros C.I - Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 - Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8

lists=

see also=

External links

* [http://www.elknet.pl/historia-lotnictwa/av_hist/index.php?position=0.0.32 A page about Hansa-Brandenburg C.I in Polish Air Force service] (in Polish).