Engineering:Schoettler I
| Schoettler I | |
|---|---|
| File:SchoettlerB.tif | |
| Role | Two seat biplane |
| National origin | China |
| Designer | F.L. Schoettler |
| First flight | Summer 1923 |
The Schoettler I was one of the first aircraft constructed in China , albeit with a Germany designer. It was a two-seat, single engine biplane, first flown in mid-summer 1923.
Design and development
File:Schoettler(1).tif In late 1923 Flight reported on what was claimed to be the first successful aircraft constructed in China . It was designed by the German engineer Leopold Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Schoettler (born April 7, 1881, in Bruchhausen-Vilsen, Germany; died September 27, 1948) but the only major components imported from Europe were the engine, instruments, wheels and dope for the fabric covering; everything else was locally produced from local materials by workers without aviation experience or modern machinery. Work on it began in the summer of 1922.[1]
The Schoettler I was a conventional European style two seat tractor biplane, rather similar to the German Aviatik B.II and Albatros B.II designs, with equal span two bay wings. These were mounted with 2° of dihedral and 597 mm, almost 2 ft, of stagger. The gap between the upper and lower planes was 1,676 mm (66 in), maintained by parallel pairs of aerofoil section struts and wire bracing. The unswept wings had a constant chord of 1,600 mm (63 in) with blunt wing tips and ailerons on both upper and lower planes. The Schoettler's empennage was also conventional.[1]
The fuselage was likewise a standard rectangular section wooden girder structure, fabric covered except around the engine and a wood upper decking around the open, tandem cockpits for pilot and for the observer, who sat under the wing trailing edge. It tapered to a knife-edge at the tail. At the front the 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes water-cooled upright inline engine was enclosed in a rectangular cross-section metal cowling which tapered vertically, exposing the upper cylinders, to a two blade propeller. At the rear of the housing an external radiator, with shutters for engine temperature control, projected on each side. The Schoettler had a conventional fixed undercarriage, with the mainwheels on a rigid axle mounted on V-struts.[1]
Flight does not report a first flight date, but this was on or before 23 July 1923 when the Schoettler was test flown by an ex-RAF pilot, W.E. Holland. The latter reported good handling and an excellent, 360°, field of view for the observer noting the aircraft's potential for development.[1] More recent articles claim the first flight by a Chinese built aircraft was that of the indigenously-designed Xianyi Rosamonde (or Dashatou Rosamonde) on 12 July 1923, though without mention of the Schoettler;[2] the two aircraft were evidently close contemporaries.
Specifications
Data from Flight, 1 November 1923[1]
General characteristics
- Capacity: Two
- Length: 8.3503 m (27 ft 4.75 in)
- Wingspan: 12.04 m (39 ft 6 in)
- Height: 3.12 m (10 ft 3 in)
- Wing area: 37.324 m2 (401.75 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 741 kg (1,634 lb)
- Gross weight: 1,160 kg (2,558 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes , 120 kW (160 hp)
- Propellers: 2-bladed
Performance
- Maximum speed: 206 km/h (128 mph, 111 kn) at 1,000 ft (305 m)
- Cruise speed: 158 km/h (98 mph, 85 kn)
- Stall speed: 72 km/h (45 mph, 39 kn)
- Endurance: 4.5 h
- Wing loading: 31 kg/m2 (6.3 lb/sq ft)
- Power/mass: 0.063 hp/lb (103 W/kg)
See also
- Feng Ru, Chinese-American who constructed and demonstrated an aircraft of his own design in China from 1911 to 1912
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "The "Schoettler I" biplane". Flight XV (44): 675–6. 1 November 1923. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1923/1923%20-%200675.html.
- ↑ "Xianyi Rosamonde". http://wiki.scramble.nl/index.php/Xianyi_Rosamonde. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
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