Sablatnig P.III
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=P.III | image=File:Sablatnig P.III CH-54 Alfred Comte Dübendorf - LBS SR02-10072.tif | caption= Sablatnig P.III 'CH-54' of Alfred Comte's flying school at Dübendorf airfield near Zürich. }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Airliner | national origin=Germany | manufacturer=Sablatnig | designer=Dr. Ing. Hans Seehase | introduced=1921 | retired=around 1930 | status= | primary user= | number built=30–40 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Sablatnig P.III was an airliner produced in Germany in the early 1920s.{{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |page=787}}
Development
File:Aeronaudi_angaar_Lasnamäel_1925.jpg at Lasnamäe Airfield, Estonia in 1925.]]
A contemporary account identifies the P.III as Germany's first aircraft purposefully-designed as a commercial passenger plane. It was a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane of conventional design powered by a single engine in the nose (either a 200-hp Benz, or a 260-hp Maybach). Later the British 258-hp Armstrong Siddeley Puma engine was the usual power plant.{{cite book|title=Papers by Command, Volume 9|author=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons|page=21}} The crew of two, a pilot and a navigator or mechanic, were accommodated in separate open cockpits in tandem. These were behind the enclosed six seat passenger cabin in the center of the fuselage. Passengers entered the cabin through a door directly from the ground, rather than having to climb over the side of the aircraft, or up a ladder. The P.III's cabin offered passengers the comfort of an expensive automobile. The structure was of wood throughout, with the fuselage skinned in plywood. The wings and horizontal stabiliser folded for storage or rail transport, and indeed, P.IIIs carried their own tent as a portable hangar.
Operational history
This aircraft was one of the few approved as a civilian, not military type by the ILÜK (Interallierte Luftfahrt-Überwachungs-Kommission, Inter-allied Aviation Control Commission) for production in Germany after World War I.{{cite book |last=Hirschel |first=Ernst-Heinrich |author2=Horst Prem |author3=Gero Madelung |title=Aeronautical Research in Germany: From Lilienthal Until Today |publisher=Springer |location=Heidelberg |year=2004 |page=36}} However under the Treaty of Versailles all aircraft production was forbidden in Germany for a period of six months during the year 1920, and all existing aircraft, both military and civilian, and including aircraft built after the end of World War I, had to be either handed over to the Allied military or destroyed. As a result, Sablatnig ceased building aircraft. Apparently the existing P.IIIs were either hidden or smuggled out of Germany.
File:Sablatnig P.III L'Aerophile January,1921.jpg
17 Sablatnig P.IIIs were registered in Germany in and after 1921. Fritz Sablatnig, the owner of the Sablatnig company, estimated total production at 30 to 40 examples, including 12 made in Estonia by Dwigatel.
The P.III entered service with a number of airlines in Germany and other countries, including Lloyd Luftverkehr Sablatnig, Deutsche Luft Hansa, Danish Air Express, Aeronaut, as well as with the Swiss Air Force.
Operators
;{{DEN}}
;{{EST}}
;{{GER|1923}}
;{{SUI}}
Specifications
File:Sablatnig_P.III_3-view_L'Aerophile_January,1921.png
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=The Sablatnig P.3 Monoplane {{cite journal |title=The Sablatnig P.3 Monoplane |journal=Flight |date=4 August 1921 |pages=521–525 |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1921/1921%20-%200521.html |access-date=2009-02-07}}
|prime units?=met
|crew=2
|capacity=6 pax
|length m=8.94
|length note=
|span m=16
|span note=
|height m=3.25
|height note=
|wing area sqm=45.1
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=1400
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=3080
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Maybach Mb.IVa
|eng1 type=6-cylinder water-cooled in-line piston engine
|eng1 hp=260
|eng1 note=
::::Alternative engines:-
:::::{{cvt|258|hp|0|order=flip}} Armstrong Siddeley Puma
:::::{{cvt|230|hp|0|order=flip}} Benz Bz.IVa
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=fixed-pitch propeller
|prop dia m=
|prop dia note=
|max speed kmh=170
|max speed note=
|cruise speed kmh=150
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=80
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed note=
|range km=900
|range note=
|ferry range km=
|ferry range note=
|endurance=6 hours
|ceiling m=3800
|ceiling note=
|climb rate ms=2
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading note=
|fuel consumption kg/km=
|power/mass=
|more performance=
}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{Commons category}}
- Gerdessen, Frederik. "Estonian Air Power 1918 – 1945". Air Enthusiast, No. 18, April – July 1982. pp. 61–76. {{ISSN|0143-5450}}.
{{Sablatnig aircraft}}
Category:Aircraft manufactured in Estonia
Category:1920s German airliners