LFG Roland D.II

The Roland D.II was a German fighter aircraft in the First World War.

Development and production

The D.II was the further development of the engineers Tantzen Hoffmann and the aircraft mbH (Roland ) in Charlottenburg city constructed Roland DI Because of their aerodynamic shaping these fighters were called Shark.

The first flight of Roland D.II was held in October 1916.

The planes were

  • Mercedes D.III engine as Roland D.II
  • And with Opel Argus As.III engine as Roland D.IIa

Delivered.

Since the production facility of L.F.G. had been destroyed by a fire in Adlershof, they went back to the Palatinate in Speyer Flugzeugwerke, who took over the license production under the direction of the designer Roever. After re- Shoo production in Charlottenburg Roland produced together with his license manufacturer about 300 aircraft for the German Air Force.

Use

Although the stronger armed and motorized Roland D.II was an improvement on the equipped only with a MG DI, but was overshadowed by the successful Albatros fighters, which is why it was used in less competitive areas of the western front, and on the Eastern Front and in Macedonia. Since the machine guns were installed in the forward fuselage, the pilot had difficulty in battle to eliminate stoppages. Due to the poor visibility forward / down and sluggish control the aircraft with the pilots was not very popular.

In addition to the Royal Bulgarian Air Force following associations of the German Air Force Roland D.II / D.IIa put a:

  • Jasta 15
  • Jasta 25
  • Jasta 27
  • Jasta 31
  • Jasta 32
  • Fl. Dept. 21
  • Fl. Dept. 220
  • FEA 9

Development

For the Imperial Navy built L.F.G. a Roland D.II with double floats to the seaplane, under the name LFG WD Roland on June 29, 1917 made ​​its first flight.

Successor to the D-II and final version of the "Shark " series was the LFG Roland D.III.

Specifications

The Roland D.II benchmarked (approx. Spring 1917)

Source Notes

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