LFG Roland D.III

Roland D.III

Role	Fighter
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	LFG
Designer	Dipl Ing Tantzen
First flight	1916
Primary user	Luftstreitkräfte
Number built	3

The LFG Roland D.III was a fighter aircraft produced in Germany during World War I.^[1]

Design and development

The D.III was a further development of the D.I fighter.^[2] These machines had a fuselage that completely filled the interplane gap, a design feature intended to improve aerodynamics. However, it also resulted in limiting the pilot's field of vision in the down and forward direction, leading to complaints.^[2] LFG attempted to remedy this in the D.III design by introducing a gap between the upper fuselage and the upper wing, braced by cabane struts.^[1] The size of the tailplane was also increased.

While this did indeed result in an improvement over the Roland D.II that had preceded it, the performance of the D.III was inferior to that of other contemporary fighters available to the German Army, in particular those produced by Albatros, and the aircraft was therefore only produced in small quantities.^[1]^[2]

Forward visibility, though better in the D.III than the D.I was still not good and LFG tried to improve it with another variant, the D.V. The fuselage diameter was decreased and the decking forward of the cockpit lowered exposing all of the upper parts of the engine cylinders. Three were built, one with the Argus engine of the D.II and two with the 119 kW (160 hp) Mercedes D.III, another upright 6-cylinder engine. The visibility was not much improved and the problem was only solved with the LFG Roland D.VII, which used a V-8 engine.^[3]

Variants

D.V: Lowered fuselage to improve pilot's view. Three built, one with Argus and two with Mercedes engines.^[3]

Operators

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Air Force

German Empire

Luftstreitkrafte

Specifications (D.III)

General characteristics

Crew: One pilot
Length: 6.84 m (22 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 8.94 m (29 ft 4 in)
Height: 2.76 m (9 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 19.8 m² (213 ft²)
Empty weight: 717 kg (1,580 lb)
Gross weight: 961 kg (2,119 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Argus As.III 6-cylinder inline water-coooled, 134 kW (180 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 175 km/h (109 mph)
Cruising speed: 156 km/h (98 mph)
Endurance: 2 hours 30 min
Service ceiling: 4,500 m (14,800 ft)
Rate of climb: 4.5 m/s (880 ft/min)

Armament

2 × fixed, forward-firing 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 machine guns

Notes

1 2 3 Taylor 1989, 576
1 2 3 World Aircraft Information Files File 900 Sheet 06
1 2 Green & Swanborough (1994) p.338

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roland aircraft.

Green, William; Swanborough, Gordon (1994). The Complete Book of Fighters. Godalming, UK: Salamander Books. ISBN 1-85833-777-1.
Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.
World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing.
Уголок неба

Aircraft produced by Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft

LFG-Roland	LFG Roland Arrow C.I C.II C.III C.V C.VIII D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII D.IX D.XIII D.XIV D.XV D.XVI D.XVII Dr.I E.I G 1

LFG	W WD

LFG post WWI	V 1 V 2 V 3 V 8 V 13 V 19 V 20 Arkona V 26 V 36 V 39 V 40 V 42 V 44 V 52 V 58 V 59 V 60 V 61 V 101 Jasmund V 130 Strela

Idflieg D, DD- and DJ-class aircraft designations

D- and DD- class

AEG	D.I D.II D.III

Albatros	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII D.IX D.X D.XI D.XII

Aviatik	(D.I not assigned) D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII

Daimler	D.I D.II

DFW	D.I D.II

Euler	D.I D.II

Fokker	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII

Friedrichshafen	D.I DD.II

Halberstadt	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V

Junkers	D.I

Kondor	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI

LFG/Roland	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII D.IX D.X D.XI D.XII D.XIII D.XIV D.XV D.XVI D.XVII

LVG	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI

MFW	D.I

Naglo	D.I D.II

Pfalz	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII D.IX D.X D.XI D.XII D.XIII D.XIV D.XV

Rumpler	D.I

Schütte-Lanz	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII

Siemens-Schuckert	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI

Zeppelin-Lindau	D.I

DJ- class

AEG	DJ.I

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