Evening All,
This was built as part of a memorial GB to honour Dave Wilson.
The Deutsche Flugzeug Werke of Leipzig started by building Farmans and Nieuports under licence but in 1912 they designed their first machine - a monoplane with a steel structure and fabric covering. Shortly after they turned the design into a biplane and both types were produced in small numbers until 1914. Early machines had a 4 cylinder engine, but later types were powered by 100hp engines, often but not always Merceedes types.
The distinct swept back wing gave it another name - "arrow". The tips of the 18 meter span wings could fold down to allow the machines to be placed in canvas hangars. All machines were two seaters, with the pilot in the rear seat, and were inherently stable and therefore relatively easy to fly. They also had ailerons at a time when wing warping was still a common feature of many other types. The biplane variant set an endurance record for German aircraft of over 7 hours.
Two machines were bought by the Turks and employed for reconnaissance in the Baltic Wars of 1912-1913, but were flown by German pilots. In Britain the Beardmore company bought a machine in 1913 and had it flown to Brooklands where it was demonstrated to potential civilian and military customers. In April 1914 a second machine was flown to Brooklands where it was purchased by the Admiralty and assigned the number 154.
154 was flown to Eastchurch for testing by RNAS pilots but in August 1914 following the outbreak of war it was transferred to Killingholme in Lincolnshire because there was concern that it being a Greman design it might attract unwarranted attention from the ground. It was dismantled later in 1914 and eventually scrapped in 1915. The second Mars which was still at Brooklands was requisitioned by the Navy and also flown to Eastchurch and other airfields: it crashed and badly damaged the undercarriage in January 1915 and it too was scrapped.
The history of the machines in German service is less clear but it is almost certain that both the monoplane and biplane types saw service at the front in the early months of the war. They were certainly in use as trainers at the DFW airfield from 1913 to 1915. There is a postcard which shows a DFW biplane flown by Flug. Lt. von Hiddessen which states that he was the first pilot to bomb Paris in 1914.
RIP Dave.
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
