Evening All,
The Siemens-Schuckert company produced a number of odd designs during the period 1914-1918, some of which were relatively successful. The DDr1 was a product of the "triplane craze" of 1917: the introduction of the Sopwith Ttriplane earlier that year had caused something of a sensation among pilots on account of the extreme agility of the type. It could easily out-turn all other types in service and although it was not particularly fast, in dogfights its pilots had a distinct advantage. Many companies tried to either design new types or modify existing ones which could replicate the success of the Sopwith. The Seiemens Schuckert design was one of the less successful attempts, but it is interesting nonetheless because of a novel feature - it had two engines.
The machine had a fairly conventional structure - a stubby nacelle which was covered in fabric with metal cowlings, and tubular booms supporting twin rudders and a single elevator at the rear. It was armed with two machine guns. The power was supplied by two Siemens-Halske Sh 1a 120 hp rotary engines, one mounted in the nose driving a two blade propellor, and one at the rear driving a four blade propellor. The engines were unusual because while the cylinders rotated in one direction, gearing caused the propellors to turn in the opposite direction.
The shape of the arircraft meant that it was quickly dubbed the "flying egg". the design was submitted for approval in the summer of 1917 and a prototype ordered which was ready for testing in November of that year.
The radical design proved to be too much: the machine lacked stability and the engines were difficult to control, with the result that the machine crashed on the first flight and was not rebuilt. A second design with more powerful engines was not proceeded with.
Spin models make one of these in resin in 1/48 scale but there are two problems with that for me. 1st it is in the wrong scale and 2nd I do not like resin kits, so it left me with no option but to scratch build one in the True Scale. The nacelle, spinner and cowlings were push moulded and the booms were florists wire. The wheels are discs cut from plastic card with rod for tyres, the engines are rod and card, and the remainder was made from plastic card. It is rigged with rolled copper wire. My thanks to Alexis for providing me with the information concerning the sizes of the propellors: the drawings that I used to make this model did not give the dimensions.
Another oddball type to add to my growing collection!
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
