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The Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII, designed by the brothers Franz and Bruno
Steffen, was the last Riesen Flugzeug (giant aeroplane) built by the
Siemens-Schuckertwerke GmbH at Siemensstadt, near Berlin, Germany.
Design studies on this machine started in November 1916, but
eventually the machine was rolled out of the factory March 1, 1919.
This machine was the largest built up to this time, as indicated by
these wing parts, with a span of 157 ft 5.8 in (48 m) and an empty
weight of 23,149 lb (10,500 kg). Just as the previous Siemens-
Schuckert R-types the engines were buried in the fuselage, in this
extreme case six 300 hp Basse & Selve BuS.IVa engines. Via a complex
combination of gear boxes and outrigger shafts, two two-bladed tractor
propellers and two four-bladed pusher propellers were driven.
As Siemens-Schuckert had no experience with the design and building of
such an enormous machine, a complete wooden mockup was made of which
photos exist dated April 1917. As all big projects, it took much
longer than planned to construct the machine and the end bill was much
higher, actually 850,000 Mark.
Tests of the R.VIII started in June 1919, but fate struck as on June 6
one of the 4-bladed pusher propellers disintegrated during engine
tests, severely damaging the aircraft. The upper port wing and the
propeller support collapsed. The German government did not want to
bear the cost of reconstruction of the machine, so the aircraft was
cancelled.
It is often thought that all aircraft construction in Germany ended at
the Armistice date (November 11, 1918), but that was not the case.
Large factories could not shut down immediately and lay off their
complete work force, which would surely result in social unrest. So
with allied consent production was sanctioned in several cases.
Technically the R.VIII was the limit what could be constructed in
wood, German engineers were already designing projects for all-metal
giant bombers sometimes monoplanes. As this machine was so big, flying
it needed special measures to make it possible for the pilots to fly
it. The machine was fitted with a new invention of Anton Flettner,
patented, which were servo-controls or trim-tabs. The eight-wheel
landing gear mounted under the wings had no rubber tires, due to
shortages in rubber wire wheels were used with wooden rims bound with
steel bands.
Rob
