The most reliable airplane of the monarchy was this two-seater biplane, built by the firm of Jakob Lohner. The characteristic arrow shape of the wings was not to increase the speed, but to improve the stability. The span totaled 13½m, the completely enclosed hull was 9.7 m long. The building of this type of aircraft was begun in 1909, and it was used in WWI in improved form with more powerful motors and larger range as a combat plane. The upper wing was around a third larger than the lower. [ANK184; 1/5/1915]
Igo Etrich constructed his 'Dove' in 1907, a high-wing with the characteristic broad, wedge-shaped tail fin. Because of financial difficulties he was forced to submit this Dove to the German airplane manufacturer Rumpler for evaluation, and they made from it their later well-known Rumpler Dove. The sihouette of the airplane became so popular, that at the beginning of WWI the French exclaimed 'Dove!' whenever they saw a German aeroplane. Igo Etrich developed the Dove further in 1912 into the first flight limousine of the world. [ANK1292; 31/5/1968]
This is illustrated on the back of many of the 1927-28 first-flight cards.
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©Andy Taylor. Last updated 3 Jan 2014