The AEG R.I was a four-engined biplane bomber aircraft of World War I. It was unusual for a multi-engined aircraft in that rather than mounting propellers directly to the engines and mounting these in nacelles, the R.I carried all its engines within the fuselage and turned its propellers via a system of driveshafts. A single prototype was completed and flew in 1916. Initial flights were quite successful. The aircraft was considered very maneuverable. On September 3, 1918 a propeller which had not been given sufficient time for the glue to cure disintegrated. The vibrations resulting from that failure caused the complex transmissions and shafting connecting all four engines to both propellers to tear loose, which then cut a center section strut, which caused the aircraft to break up, killing all seven crew on board. Of the six further AEG R-1's planned or under production when the war ended (R.21, 22, 59, 60, 61 and R.62) only the R.21 was finished and R.22 partially complete.
Specifications (AEG R.I)
General characteristics
- Crew: Seven
- Length: 19.50 m (63 ft 11 in)
- Wingspan: 36.00 m (118 ft 1 in)
- Height: 6.35 m (20 ft 10 in)
- Wing area: 260 m² (<2798ft²)
- Empty weight: 9,000 kg (19,845 lb)
- Loaded weight: 12,700 kg (28,003 lb)
- Useful load: 3700 kg (8158 lb)
- Powerplant: 4× Mercedes D.IVa 6-cylinder water-cooled inline engines, 194 kW (260 hp) each
Performance
Armament
5 machine guns
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