Pfalz D.XV
{{Short description|German single seat fighter aircraft}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=D.XV | image=Dxv.jpg | caption=D.XV (Spezial) }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=Single seat fighter aircraft | national origin=Germany | manufacturer=Pfalz Flugzeugwerke | designer= | first flight=Summer 1918 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=More than 2 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Pfalz D.XV was a German single seat fighter aircraft which was approved for production right at the end of World War I, too late to enter service.
Design and development
The D.XV was last of the series of biplane fighters and notably different from their earlier aircraft, with both mainplanes clear of the fuselage and without flying wires. The lower wing was the smaller of the two both in span and chord and had elliptical tips. The upper wing was square tipped and fitted with ailerons. Both were single piece from tip to tip. Outward leaning N-form struts defined the D.XV as a single bay biplane; groups of short struts from the mid and upper fuselage joined it to the upper wing and similar groups attached the lower plane.
The D.XV had a BMW IIIa water-cooled 6-cylinder inline engine of {{cvt|185|hp}}, with a rectangular radiator filling the upper nose above the drive-shaft of the two-bladed propeller. Aft, the fuselage was rounded in cross-section with the open cockpit behind the upper wing's trailing edge. The empennage was mounted at mid-fuselage, D-shaped in plan and with balanced elevators. The fin was triangular and carried a short, curved, balanced rudder. The D.XV's fixed conventional undercarriage was of the fixed axle type, the axle ends supported on pairs of V-struts and wire cross-braced; there was a tall tail skid.
The D.XV was developed over the summer of 1918 and versions with unbalanced ailerons (D.XVf) and overhung, balanced ailerons (D.XV (Spezial). The {{cvt|180|hp}} Daimler DIIIa engine was also considered. The Pfalz took part in the third D-type trial, held in October 1918. It was judged to have high performance and manoeuvrability, though tail heavy and hard to land. It was one of the last German fighters accepted for production, getting its type approval on 4 November 1918, just a few days before the Armistice. Because it was approved for production so late, the Pfalz XV never reached operational status. Several were built and there were 74 completed fuselages in the Pfalz works when these were inspected by the Allies in the autumn of 1919.
Variants
;D.XVf:aerodynamically unbalanced ailerons
;D.XV (Spezial):overhung, balanced ailerons
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units?=met
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|crew=One
|length m=6.50
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|span m=8.60
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|height m=2.70
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|wing area sqm=20.00
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|empty weight kg=738
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=918
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=BMW IIIa
|eng1 type=6-cylinder water-cooled inline engine
|eng1 hp=185
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|prop blade number=2
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|max speed kmh=203
|max speed note=at {{cvt|4000|m}}
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|endurance=1.5 hr
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|time to altitude=2.0 min to {{cvt|1000|m}}
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References
Further reading
{{commons category|Pfalz D.XV}}
- {{cite book |last1=Herris |first1=Jack |series=Great War Aviation Centennial Series |title=Pfalz Aircraft of WWI: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes |volume=5 |date=2012 |publisher=Aeronaut Books |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-1-935881-12-4}}
{{Pfalz aircraft}}
{{Idflieg D-class designations}}
Category:1910s German fighter aircraft