The Hansa-Brandenburg W.23 was a prototype biplane flying-boat fighter designed by the Hansa-Brandenburg Aircraft Company (Hansa Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke) for the Imperial German Navy's (Kaiserliche Marine) Naval Air Service (Marine-Fliegerabteilung) during World War I. Three aircraft were ordered in 1917 and delivered the following year, but it was not ordered into production.

Contents

• Design
• Specifications
• See also
• References
• Bibliography

Design

The W.23 followed the design philosophy for all flying boat biplanes built by Hansa-Brandenburg, including a swept lower wing, wing floats, pusher engine arrangement, and a single-step hull. Although similar to design to the Hansa-Brandenburg W.18, it differed in having a longer fuselage. Three aircraft (MN 1647-1649) were delivered from June 1917 to January 1918, but flight characteristics were deemed poor. ^[1]

Specifications

Data from Hansa-Brandenburg Aircraft of WWI: Volume 2–Biplane Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series ^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 9.13 m (29 ft 11 in) overall
• Upper wingspan: 10.7 m (35 ft 1 in)
• Lower wingspan: 10.24 m (33 ft 7 in)
• Height: 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
• Wing area: 34.7 m² (374 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 918 kg (2,024 lb)
• Gross weight: 1,261 kg (2,780 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.III water-cooled straight-six engine, 120 kW (160 hp)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 165 km/h (103 mph, 89 kn)
• Service ceiling: 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
• Time to altitude:
  

• 800 m (2,600 ft) in 6 minutes
• 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 7 minutes
• 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in 12 minutes
• 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 18 minutes 12 seconds
• 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 38 minutes 18 seconds

Armament

• Guns: *1 × fixed, forward-firing 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 machine gun
• 1 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Becker autocannon

See also

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of Germany
• List of flying boats and floatplanes

References

Bibliography

• Andersson, Lennart & Sanger, Ray (2014). Retribution and Recovery: German Aircraft and Aviation 1919 to 1922. Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN   978-0-85130-467-0.
• Green, William & Swanborough, Gordon (2001) [1994]. The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Built and Flown (Revised and Updated ed.). Salamander Books. ISBN   1-84065-269-1.
• Owers, Colin A. (2015). Hansa-Brandenburg Aircraft of WWI: Volume 2–Biplane Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 18. n.p.: Aeronaut Books. ISBN   978-1-935881-32-2.