The DFW R.II was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

 aircraft of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. It was developed at a request by the Luftstreitkräfte

Luftstreitkräfte

The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte , known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches , or simply Die Fliegertruppen, was the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I...

in spring 1917 after their experience with the R.I

DFW R.I

|-See also:-Further reading:* The German Giants, The Story of the R-planes 1914-1919, G.W. Haddow & Peter M. Grosz, Putnam & Company Limited, 42 Great Russell Street, London, First Published July 1962-External links:...

 had been generally positive.

Design and development

The service desired generally similar aircraft but needed greater payload (3400 kg, up from 2600 kg in the R.I). This meant the design had to be considerably revised. The same engine/propeller arrangement was used (four inline engine

Inline engine (aviation)

In aviation, an inline engine means any reciprocating engine with banks rather than rows of cylinders, including straight engines, flat engines, V engines and H engines, but excluding radial engines and rotary engines....

s mounted in the fuselage, driving two tractor propellers and two pusher propellers via long driveshafts).

When the R.II first flew in August 1918, the driveshafts proved troublesome, creating excessive vibration. As a remedy, they were enclosed within steel tubes, which fixed the problem. The aircraft also was able to benefit from the newly-available Mercedes D.IVa

Mercedes D.IVa

|-See also:-Bibliography:*Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9*Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1993. ISBN 1-85170-347-0...

 engine that had replaced the troublesome D.IV

Mercedes D.IV

|-References:* Kroschel, Gunter and Helmust Stützer. Die deutschen Militarflugzeuge 1910-1918 Wilhelmshaven: Lohse-Eissing Mittler.*...

 in production.

Operational history

Of the six ordered by the Luftstreitkräfte, only two were completed before the end of the war, and these were operated from Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

 on training duties only when their performance proved inadequate for front-line duties. Following the war, DFW planned an airliner

Airliner

An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...

 version of the R.II, which would have carried 24 passengers. Construction of a prototype was abandoned before it was complete.

Specifications