W.25
Role	Floatplane fighter Type of aircraft
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Hansa-Brandenburg
First flight	1918
Number built	1

The Hansa-Brandenburg W.25 was a prototype floatplane fighter built 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. It was a modified version of the company's single-seat KDW fighter, but it was not accepted for service.

Contents

• Design and development
• Specifications (W.25)
• See also
• References
• Bibliography

Design and development

The W.25 was an improved version of the single-seat KDW with a modified single-bay wing with conventional inter-plane struts. It used a water-cooled 150- metric-horsepower (110  kW ) Maybach Mb.III straight-six engine rather than the Benz Bz.III engine of the KDW. One prototype was built with ailerons only on the upper wing, but maneuverability was unsatisfactory. It was then modified with a second pair of ailerons on the lower wing connected to the upper ailerons by a strut. The armament consisted of two fixed, forward-firing 7.92-millimeter (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 machine guns. ^[1]

Specifications (W.25)

Data from German Aircraft of the First World War; ^[2] Hansa-Brandenburg Aircraft of WWI: Volume 2–Biplane Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series ^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 8.8 m (28 ft 10 in)
• Wingspan: 10.4 m (34 ft 1 in)
• Height: 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in)
• Wing area: 36.53 m² (393.2 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 918 kg (2,024 lb)
• Gross weight: 1,182 kg (2,606 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Benz Bz.III water-cooled straight-six engine engine, 110 kW (150 hp)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn)
• Endurance: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Time to altitude: 6 minutes 30 seconds to1,000 m (3,300 ft)

Armament

• Guns: 2 x fixed forward-firing synchronised 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 Spandau machine guns

See also

Related lists

• List of flying boats and floatplanes

References

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hansa-Brandenburg W.25 .

• Andersson, Lennart & Sanger, Ray (2014). Retribution and Recovery: German Aircraft and Aviation 1919 to 1922. Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN   978-0-85130-467-0.
• Gray, Peter & Thetford, Owen (1987) [1970]. German Aircraft of the First World War (2nd ed.). Putnam. ISBN   0-85177-809-7.
• 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.
• Herris, Jack (2012). German Seaplane Fighters of WWI: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 2. Charleston (S.C.): Aeronaut Books. ISBN   978-1-935881-09-4.
• 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.