Hannover CL.II
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
|name=CL.II |image=Hannover clii.jpg |caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type |type=Escort fighter |national origin=Germany |manufacturer=Hannoversche Waggonfabrik |designer=Hermann Dorner |first flight=1917 |introduced= |retired= |status= |primary user=Luftstreitkräfte |more users= |produced= |number built=439 |variants with their own articles= }} |
The Hannover CL.II was an escort fighter, produced in Germany during World War I, designed in response to a 1917 requirement by the Idflieg for such a machine to protect reconnaissance aircraft over enemy territory.
Design and development
The CL.II was a compact biplane of largely conventional configuration with single-bay staggered wings of unequal span. The fuselage was a thin plywood paneled, wooden monocoque design, very similar to the style of fuselage in Robert Thelen's Albatros series of single-seat fighters.
The main units of the fixed tail skid undercarriage were linked by a cross-axle and the pilot and tail gunner sat in tandem, open cockpits, with the gunner's cockpit elevated above the line of the upper fuselage to afford him a greater field of fire. For the same purpose, the aircraft featured an unusually compact empennage, with a short fin integral with the rear fuselage structure and a biplane tail unit that allowed the rear gunner to have a larger field of fire aft when defending the aircraft. Smaller than the usual C-class reconnaissance aircraft, it was easy for enemy pilots to mistake it for a single-seat fighter; a mistake that would bring them into the line of fire of the rear facing observer when closing from astern.
The CL.II was also produced under licence by LFG, under the designation CL.IIa. The type was widely produced, and as the war continued, was increasingly employed as a ground attack machine, remaining in service in this role until the Armistice.
A copy of Hannover CL.II, named CWL SK-1 Słowik, was the first aircraft built in independent Poland, in CWL in Warsaw in 1919. It however crashed during a public flight on August 23, 1919 in Warsaw, due to faulty bracing wires, killing its constructor Karol Słowik.Morgała, Andrzej. O samolocie inż. Słowika raz jeszcze in: "Lotnictwo z szachownicą" nr. 21(1/2007), pp.30-33 {{in lang|pl}}
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=German Aircraft of the First World War {{cite book |last=Gray |first=Peter |last2=Thetford |first2=Owen |title=German Aircraft of the First World War |year=1970 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=0-370-00103-6 |edition=2nd |pages=150–153}}
|prime units?=met
|crew=2
|length m=7.58
|length note=
|span m=11.7
|span note=
|height m=2.8
|height note=
|wing area sqm=32.7
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=717
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=1081
|gross weight note=
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|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Argus As.III
|eng1 type=6-cylinder water-cooled in-line piston engine
|eng1 kw=134
|eng1 note=
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=fixed-pitch propeller
|prop dia m=
|prop dia note=
|max speed kmh=165
|max speed note=at {{cvt|5000|m}}
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed note=
|range km=
|range note=
|combat range km=
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|ferry range km=
|ferry range note=
|endurance=3 hours 30 minutes
|ceiling m=7500
|ceiling note=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude={{cvt|5000|m}} in 5 minutes 18 seconds
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading note=
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|guns=:*1 × fixed, forward-firing 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 Spandau machine gun
:*1 × trainable, rearward-firing 7.92 mm Parabellum MG14 machine gun for observer
|bombs=
}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{commons category|Hannover CL.II}}
- {{cite book|author1-last=Gray|author1-first=Peter|title=German Aircraft of the First World War|orig-year=1970|year=1987 |publisher=Putnam |location=London|isbn=0-85177-809-7|edition=2nd|author2-first=Owen|author2-last=Thetford|name-list-style=amp}}
- {{cite book |author1-last=Rimell |author1-first=Ray|author2-last=Woodman|author2-first=Harry |title='HAWA'! (Vol. 2) |date=2015 |publisher=Albatros Productions |location=Berkhampstead, UK |isbn=978-1-906798-44-4|series=Windsock Datafile|volume=169|name-list-style=amp}}
{{Hannover aircraft}}
{{World War I Aircraft of the Central Powers}}
{{Idflieg C-class designations}}