Hansa-Brandenburg W.19

The Hansa-Brandenburg W.19 was a German fighter-reconnaissance aircraft of World War I.

It was a single engined two seat biplane floatplane and was a larger development of the successful W.12.

It served with the Imperial German Navy during 1918.

The W.19 was of similar layout to the W.12, but considerably larger (i.e., with a 2.6 m/8.5 ft greater wingspan and a 1 m/3.3 ft greater length).

It was a single engined tractor biplane, with two bay wings.

The aircraft was fitted with a similar inverted tailplane to the W.12 in order to give unobstructed fields of fire to the observer, who was seated in a rear cockpit, immediately behind the pilot.

In order to compensate for the increased size and weight over the W.12, the W.19 was fitted with a more powerful Maybach Mb.IV engine.

Production aircraft were armed with one or two synchronised 7.92 mm (.312 in) LMG 08/15 machine guns firing forward and a single 7.92 mm (.312) LMG 08/15 machine gun for the observer.

One aircraft was fitted with a 20 mm Becker cannon for tests.

Specifications

Crew

2

Length

10.65 m (34 ft 11 in)

Wingspan

13.8 m (45 ft 3 in)

Height

4.1 m (13 ft 5 in)

Wing area

57.8 m2 (622 sq ft)

Empty weight

1,435 kg (3,164 lb)

Gross weight

2,005 kg (4,420 lb)

Powerplant

1 × Maybach Mb.IV,

6-cylinder water-cooled in-line piston engine,

190 kW (250 hp)

Propellers

2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

Maximum speed

151 km/h (94 mph, 82 kn)

Endurance

5 hours

Time to altitude

1,000 m (3,281 ft) 6 minutes 24 seconds

Wing loading

34.7 kg/m2 (7.1 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass

0.097 kW/kg (0.059 hp/lb)

Armament

Guns

2 × fixed, forward-firing 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 machine guns

1 × flexible 7.92 mm (0.312 in) Parabellum MG14 in rear cockpit