Though it was designed in late 1916, it wasn’t until July 1917 through March 1918 that the Hansa-Brandenburg W.13 was delivered to KuK Kriegsmarine. Shortages of the Type 21000 Daimler engine led to planes being delivered without engines, where they sat in storage until engines could be procured. Like the ubiquitous Brandenburg C.I, the W.13 was delivered by its parent company and by UFAG and Phönix, with the last of these arriving in mid-1918. Around 130 W.13’s were built overall.
The powerful 350hp V-12 engine gave the W.13 good bomb-carrying capacity, and it was used on bombing missions starting in August of 1917 over both land and sea. Its long range gave it distinct advantages in the reconnaissance and patrol roles.
The Lohner Type M was an Austro-Hungarian flying boat similar to the Lohner L. The first five were delivered by May 1914 and a subsequent order of six improved M2 (Mn) flying boats were delivered by October. Two somewhat larger Mk models were tested in early 1915 for the reconnaissance role. The last two Type Ms, the “MkN”, were designed as mine-spotting aircraft, a role for which a larger aircraft was better suited, so they were relegated to training.
Type Ms were quite busy in the Adriatic in 1914 and early 1915. By spring the larger Lohner L started to take the brunt of the work and the Type Ms were moved to second-line missions, but they continued service until the last, M31, was retired in early 1917.
The history of the Curtiss H-8, which led to the Curtiss H-12, is somewhat muddled. But it is clear that the first of the new larger flying boats as successors to the Curtiss H-4 were named the H-8 by the British. The first remained in its original configuration with twin 160hp Curtiss engines; the rest were the order of fifty were refitted with 250hp Rolls-Royce engines and re-designated the H-12.
The fifty Curtiss H-12 “Large America” were ordered in Britain and began arriving for Royal Navy Air Service use in March 1916. The new engines increased the plane’s capabilities remarkably. There is some confusion over the difference between H-12s, H-12Bs, and H-16s. After the initial batch with the 250hp engine, another twenty-four were upgraded with the 375hp Rolls-Royce and were designated the H-12B, and a further fifteen were ordered as H-12s without engines, delivered as H-16s, and fitted with the 375hp Rolls-Royce. Other sources, rather than equating the H-16 with re-engined H-12s, designate the H-16 as a larger airplane using the 400hp Liberty. Most likely some fifteen H-12s were converted to H-16s while most H-16s were built from scratch.
Lessons learned from flying the H.12s led to the excellent Felixstowe F.2, with a stronger hull and improved hydrodynamics.
Perhaps the H-12’s finest moments were on 14 May 1917 when a RNAS Curtiss shot down the Zeppelin L22 and on 14 June 1917 when L43 was shot down by another. H-12s operated widely and had frequent encounters with German seaplanes and submarines.
The US Navy experimented with H-12s (including some with Liberty engines), but the type was not used internationally. Curtiss HS.1L’s filled that role instead.
Hydravions Franco-British Aviation (F.B.A.) built several flying boats during WWI, and the F.B.A. Type H was the most numerous. In fact, it may have been the most numerous flying boat of the entire war, with 982 built in Italy and several hundred in France. It was a development of the Type B airframe, but a 150hp Hispano-Suiza vee engine was used for increased power. The wings were redesigned and about half a meter wider, the tailplane was altered, and the hull was strengthened. A crew of three was carried: two flight personnel and a nose gunner. They were also used in small numbers by Belgium, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.A.
In Italy, at least 982 were built: 38 in 1916; 367 in 1917; and 477 in 1918. A handful of Italian Type H’s were shifted to the RNAS at Otranto. A full 28 squadriglias used the Type H, mostly supplied under license by SIAI (Societa Idrovolanti Alta Italia). These latter machines used a 170hp Isotta-Fraschini engine. SIAI could not keep up with the demand and spread production over six subcontractors. The Type Hs were used all along the Italian coast and by war’s end there were still 382 in service.
The Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 was an innovative monoplane developed from the W.12. It retained and improved on the maneuverability of the W.12, but it was still limited in range and sometimes relied on the Hansa-Brandenburg W.19 to scout out targets. W.29’s were known to take on even Sopwith Camels, as a battle of 18 July 1918 demonstrated.
About three-quarters of W.29’s built were armed with two forward-firing machine guns (156 of 199), aka the C3MG. The rest substituted a radio for the second fixed machine gun, and they were known as the C2MGHFT. The 150hp Benz Bz.III was the most common engine, but the 185hp Benz Bz.IIIa and 170hp BMW.IIIa were also used in smaller numbers, but their supply may have been limited by the high demand for those engines in other aircraft.
It operated with great success, especially out of the base at Zeebrügge. Twenty-five W.29’s were dispatched to Turkey, but it is uncertain whether they ever arrived and whether they were used by German or Turkish pilots (if anyone). Austria-Hungary ordered twenty-five from UFAG, but only one was delivered before the Armistice, taking its first flight on 25 Oct 1918.
The Sopwith Baby was a Sopwith Schneider mounting the 110hp Clerget engine (and later the 130hp model). The change of the engine also forced a change from the pointed nose of the Schneider to a horseshoe cowling. While early Babys used the same gun mount as the Schneider: a top-wing Lewis angled upward to clear the propeller, later Babys used a synchronized Lewis that made for easier aiming.
Like the Schneider, the Baby performed a variety of missions from naval bases and from seaplane carriers in most theatres of the war. Fifty-eight to eighty were still on charge near the end of the war, giving this plane one of the longest service lifetimes of the war.
Ansaldo built a copy of the Baby under license, but by the time they were finished, the Ansaldo Babys were feeling their age, and they only saw limited action outside of training.
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As a response to the rising threat of Entente flying boats, the German navy developed several Jagdeinsitzer Wasser (Seaplane fighting scouts) in 1916, including the Albatros W.4. Though it was derived from the Albatros D.I, many details were changed (beyond the obvious addition of floats), such as a wider wingspan and wider gap. Various types of floats were tried as production ran along, and 118 were built before they were supplanted by Brandenburg types.
The first W.4 was delivered in September 1916, but initial production was slow, with the first ten arriving in Feb-April 1917. Eventually 118 would be delivered, some with an offset wing radiator rather than ear radiators, and some with four-wing ailerons. They served mostly on the Flanders coast, but some were seen over the Aegean.
The Hanriot H.D.2 was a floatplane version of the Hanriot H.D.1 fighter with (on later models) an enlarged rudder and fin that extended below the waterline. Like the H.D.1, it started with a single Vickers gun, but later seaplane HDs were armed with twin Vickers guns because the corresponding loss in performance was not as critical to their mission. Likewise the heavier 130hp Clerget was preferred to the lighter Le Rhône. While Aviation Militaire had declined to build the HD.1, Aviation Maritime accepted deliveries of up to 130 HD.2’s.
The US Navy purchased twenty-six HD.2s to accompany their Donnet-Denhaut flying boats working out of Dunkerque. They flew over five hundred escort missions but did not encounter German seaplane-fighters.
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The twin-boom Ago C.I and Ago C.II pushers were instantly recognizable, just as their spiritual brethren the P-38 Lightning would be in the next world war. Small numbers of them were used for reconnaissance in 1915-1916, tailing off after summer.
The Ago was one of the very few single-engine pushers used by the Germans, and it holds the distinction of being the first German plane armed with the Parabellum LMG14 machine gun, where the prototype was used in combat evaluation in April 1915. Around sixty-four of them were built in several small batches between February and October 1915. The maximum at the front was a little under two dozen in Spring to mid-summer 1916 (with an unexplained dip in numbers in April). Air crews found it easy to fly and robust, and its lifetime was extended even though it was never seen in large numbers. Once pilots grew accustomed to its characteristics, the forward nose-over wheels were frequently removed. While the forward field-of-fire was excellent, the lack of rear protection eventually turned into a major limitation.
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The Albatros C.I was the company’s rapid response to the German directive to provide defensive armament to two-seaters. It was provided with either the 150hp Benz Bz.III or the 160hp Mercedes D.III engine, both which gave it good performance. It arrived at the front in spring 1915 and by the end of the year comprised around 42% of all German two-seaters at the front. As better machines appeared, it was moved to less active fronts, where it served into 1917. It was exported to Turkey and Bulgaria and served as a trainer (as the C.Ia through the end of the war). Around 630 Albatros C.I’s were built for combat use. Roland-built C.Is cleaned up the aerodynamics by switching from side radiators to a top-wing leading radiator, and this was carried forward in the C.Ia variant.
From early to mid 1916, it was the most common German two-seater in service, eclipsed by its successor, the Albatros C.III, in the summer of 1916.
