Zeppelin-Staaken Type 8301
The Zeppelin-Staaken Type 8301 was a class of four large seaplanes, serialled 8301–8304, constructed for the Imperial German Navy during World War I. They are the largest floatplanes ever constructed.
Design
Based on the experience of testing the Zeppelin-Staaken Type L, the Kaiserliche Marine ordered these aircraft in two batches, 8301 and 8302 in December 1917, followed by a batch of four, 8303 to 8306 in January 1918.Zeppelin-Staaken used R.VI wings mated to an all-new fuselage, suspended midway between the mainplanes. Raising the fuselage this way was intended to improve the aircraft's seakeeping characteristics. The aircraft was fitted with large cellon windows that wrapped all the way around the nose, providing excellent visibility. Apart from the same machine-gun defensive armament fitted to Zeppelin-Staaken bombers, provision was made for two cannons in the rear fuselage, to be used for anti-ship purposes. The bomb load amounted to ten bombs stored in canisters alongside the nose. Twelve fuel tanks gave the aircraft an endurance of 9–10 hours.
The tailplanes were based on those of the R.XIV and R.XV, and the aircraft was fitted with floats similar to the Type L.
Development
8301 made its first flight in mid-1918, tested initially with a land undercarriage before being fitted with floats made of duralumin. Naval trials of 8301 and 8302 at Warnemünde were underway at the time the war ended, and before these aircraft had been accepted for naval service.Of the second batch, only 8203 and 8204 had been constructed but not yet delivered. The Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control discovered them in Zeppelin-Staaken's seaplane hangar at Wildpark near Potsdam.