Military aircraft

Rumpler B.I

type of aircraft

The Rumpler B.I (factory designation 4A) was a military reconnaissance aircraft produced in Germany during World War I.

== Design and development == The B.I was a conventional two-bay biplane with unstaggered wings of unequal span. It featured two open cockpits in tandem and fixed, tailskid undercarriage. Its upper wing reflected the wing design of the Etrich Taube that Rumpler was building at the time. Rumpler built 198 of these aircraft for the Luftstreitkräfte, plus 26 seaplane versions for the Imperial German Navy.

== Variants == 4A - landplane with Mercedes D.I engine, military designation B.I 4A13 - B.I with balanced, comma-style rudder 4A14 - version with Benz Bz.III engine 4B - seaplane 4B1 - version with Mercedes D.I engine 4B2 - version with Benz Bz.III engine 4B11 - version with Benz Bz.I engine 4B12 - version with Benz Bz.III engine

== Operators == Denmark Royal Danish Air Force - Postwar. Germany Luftstreitkrafte Kaiserliche Marine Turkey Ottoman Air Force

== Specifications == Data from Gray & Thetford 1962, p.518General characteristics Crew: Two, pilot and observer Length: 8.40 m (27 ft 7 in) Wingspan: 13.00 m (42 ft 8 in) Height: 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in) Empty weight: 750 kg (1,650 lb) Gross weight: 970 kg (2,100 lb) Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.I , 75 kW (100 hp) Performance

Maximum speed: 145 km/h (90 mph, 78 kn)

Notes

== References == Gray, Peter; Owen Thetford (1962). German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam. Herris, Jack (2014). Rumpler Aircraft of WWI: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 11. n.p.: Aeronaut Books. ISBN 978-1-935881-21-6. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing. Kroschel, Günter; Helmut Stützer (1994). Die Deutschen Militärflugzeuge 1910–1918. Herford: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.

Notes

Further reading