Loening M-8

We continue with one of the very firsts American fighters that makes the first American airplane drawn in this blog.

The Loening M-8 was an American two-seater monoplane fighter designed by Grover Loening. It was pretended to serve during the Great War, during the great offensive of 1919 (which never took place as the war ended in November 1918), in fact an initial order of 5000 airplanes was placed but, due to the end of the war, it was cancelled.

It was the first design of Grover Loening after founding his company. It was a two-seat braced wing monoplane fighter. It featured a fixed tailskid landing gear and was powered by an Hispano-Suiza engine set in a tractor configuration. It featured a tandem open-cockpit for both pilot and gunner.
The first prototype flew in 1918 and, after performing some tests, the USAAS placed an order of 5000 airplanes which was cancelled when the war ended. Only two aircraft were delivered to the army and one to the navy. However, the navy ordered 46 airplanes in two variants, in order to use them as observer airplanes.
Some kind of follow-on more developed version was also made in the form of a single-seat fighter. The Loening PW-2.

The version made of this airplane were as follows:

• M-8: Initial production version. 5000 ordered, only two examples delivered.
• M-8-0: Navy observation version
• M-8-1: Improved variant built for the navy. 36 manufactured.
• M-8-S: Seaplane version built for the navy. Only 6 built.

Sikorsky S.16

We continue with the very first operational Russian fighter in history.

Initially conceived as an escort fighter for the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets (just like the Olchovskij Torpedo ) it was designed by the person, Igor Sikorsky,  and was manufactured by RBVZ (which stands for Russko-Baltiiskii Vagonnyi Zavod - Russo-Baltic Wagon Works) .
Some early variants were two-seaters as they were intended for observation-scout duties. 

It was made out of wood and the fighter versions were equipped with a synchronising gear designed by the Russian engineer Lavrov, for the single 7,7mm forward-firing machine-gun. It was powered by a 100hp LeRhone engine and the first prototype was completed on 6th February 1915. On December of the same year the first production contract was placed on RBVZ. Although it was highly maneouvrable, it's performance was poor compared with another fighters of the same year, specially considering that it was seriously underpowered. 
The last production batch was completed in 1917, just before the revolution, and many S.16 fought through the Russian Civil war and at least one of them saw service under the Ukranian People's Republic. Some of them remained active until 1923. 
Another floatplane sub-variant was made, intended to serve with the navy, but it wasn't successful.

Ansaldo SVA - Italian users, Fifth Entry

We finish the series of entries dedicated to the Ansaldo SVA with an entry dedicated to the domestic users of this airplane.

Initially conceived as a fighter, it was quickly found to be inadequate for that role. However, given it's impressive speed, range and operational ceiling, it was an excellent reconnaissance and/or light bomber airplane. The production continued after the war and continued serving with the Aeronautica Militare (military aeronautics) and also with the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) well into the 20s.

It's most famous action was the flight over Vienna, when the Italian poet Gabrielle D'Anunzio, flying in a modified SVA.10 (it was modified because the pilot and observer posts were exchanged so the pilot position was the observer's one and the observer's one the pilot's one) flew over Vienna on 9th August 1918 escorted by other SVA.5 of the same unit in order to drop propagandistic leaflets calling for the rebellion in the city. The leaflets consisted in three poems all of them written by D'Anunzio himself.

Another famous action of this airplane was the so called raid Rome-Tokyo, which featured a staged flight of 112 effective flying hours from Rome to Tokyo, passing through Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iraq, British Raj, Thailand, French Indochina, China, and finally, Japan, using only Italian airplanes. The first stages were completed using Caproni Ca.40, but the rest were completed using SVAs.

Ansaldo SVA - Floatplanes, Fourth Entry

We continue with the Ansaldo SVA, with it's penultimate entry dedicated to the floatplane sub-variants of the SVA.

The ISVA was the floatplane variant of the SVA.5. It was the ansaldo's response to the DTAM's (Aeronautical Command HQ) decision that the company should confine itself to build seaplanes. The idea was first conceived in February 1917 and by May, Ansaldo enlisted the Maggiore (Major) Alessandro Guidoni to design the floats.

It was first tested in Venice in December 1917 and it was soon followed by a second official series, which change the series name from ISVA to Am (which stands for Ansaldo marino - Naval Ansaldo) in January-February 1918. The naval pilots found it often to be heavy, and difficult to maneouvre both in the air and when taxiing on water.

Some of them served embarked in the seaplane tender Europa during 1918 for operational testing purposes.

A second batch of airplanes were made and these featured some floaters copied and modified from the Sopwith Baby, derived from the Ansaldo's experience in building the Baby under license. However it is not known if those exemplars performed better or not because there's not handling information about them.

Olchovskij Torpedo

Today we write and draw a very early Russian airplane.

The Olchovskij Torpedo was an airplane designed in 1914 heavily influenced by other parasol fighters of the same year like the Morane-Saulnier L or the Pfalz A.I.

It was designed by Captain Vladimir M Ol'khovsky, who was the officer in command of the 5th Air Park at Bryansk. Initially his intention was to design a two-seat observation airplane which he nicknamed the 'torpedo' because of the shape of the fuselage and designing, therefore, the very first monocoque fuselage built in Russia.

Made completely out of wood, the first exemplar was completed in Odessa in February 1917 and was powered by an 80hp Le Rhone 9C engine. After some flight tests, it was decided to turn it into a fighter, and therefore it was refitted with a better 110hp Le Rhone 9J engine. Not only that, but the tail was also modified in order to make it more aerodinamic, the observer seat was removed to make the airplane lighter and, most important of it all a forward firing machine gun was added in the right side of the fuselage.

The flying characteristics of the Torpedo were considered to be good... for 1914, not for 1917 and therefore it was only used as a trainer at the Gatchina flying school in Odessa. The fate of this airplane is unknown and, most likely, it was destroyed.

Ansaldo SVA - Foreign Users, Third Entry

We finish the foreign users for this airplane, by adding the remaining users:

• Poland: It is known that the Polish Wojska Lotnicze employed some of them in the Polish-Soviet war as scouts.
• USSR: It is known too, that the Soviet Air Regiment used some (apparently captured from the Polish front) SVA as scouts also.
• Spain: The Spanish Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautic) employed some SVA.5 in the scout role in North Africa, during the Rif War.
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica (Military School of Aeronautics) employed some SVA.10 in order to teach their pilots. They remained active until 1932.
• USA: The USAAS and later, the USAAC, employed an SVA.5 and, weirdly, the military attache in Rome, had an Ansaldo A.202 as his personal airplane. It's not very common to own a prototype as your personal airplane.
• Yugoslavia: The Royal Yugoslavian Army Aviation Detachment employed some SVA.5. As we couldn't find info about those airplanes. All we could do, was to speculate.

Ansaldo SVA - Foreign Users, Second Entry

We continue with the Ansaldo SVA, this time with more foreign users of this multi-role airplane.

• Lithuania: Lithuania kept some SVA.10 used in observation role during the 20s. There's not much more many information.
• Paraguay: As many of you have already guessed, the Ansaldo SVA played an important role in south American countries not just for being one of the first airplanes in many of these countries air force's, but also for being the protagonist of the first aerial combat ever in that territory when two opposing SVA.5 faced together in a dogfight. It was also used as a trainer, and not just as a fighter.
• Peru: Peru had some SVA.5 in active during the 20s. Their fate or where they were based is unknown.
• Poland: The newly created Wojska Lotnicze (Polish Air force) adquired some trainers in order to equip their flying schools. The one that employed the SVA was the advanced pilot's school, based first at an ex-German airfield in the city of Poznan but moved to Grudziądz in December 1920.

Ansaldo SVA - Foreign Users, First Entry

We start a new saga of airplanes!. This time we take a deep look into the Italian Ansaldo SVA.

The Ansaldo SVA was a saga of Italian reconnaissance airplanes designed and employed during The Great War and employed also in many other post-war conflicts.

There were various versions:

• SVA1: Later identification of the SV prototype
• SVA2: Pre-production series of the SVA.
• SVA3: Interceptor version. Powered by an SPA 6A engine. Featured one upper-wing mounted fiat machine-gun. AKA 'SVA Ridotto'
• SVA4: Reconnaissance version. Featuring one Vickers Machine gun on the left side and two photo-cameras.
• SVA.5: Recon-Bombing version. Two side mounted frontal Vickers Machine guns and equipped with bomb racks under the fuselage. Some versions were tested with early radio equipment.
• SVA.6: Purely reconnaissance version of the SVA.5. One wing-mounted Fiat machine gun. Equipped with two cameras.
• SVA.7: Recon/bomber of the SVA.6. Racks for 6 bombs under the fuselage.
• SVA.8: AKA Ansaldo A.201/A.202 Prototype of an armoured ground attack variant. It was powered by an Isotta-Fraschini engine. It was written off from inventory in May 1923.
• SVA.9: Two-Seat trainer of the SVA.5. One of them was modified in order to perform the flight over Vienna with the cockpit of the pilot and the observer reverted.
• SVA.10: Two-seat Reconnaissance version.
• ISVA/SVA Am: Floatplane fighter version (ISVA) or floatplane observation airplane (Am), made on request of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy)
• SVA AP: AP stands for 'Ansaldo Postale' which was just a regular SVA.5 powered by an V6 Isotta-Fraschini employed as a postal airplane.

Now the users covered in this post are:

• Argentina: Both Ansaldo SVA.5 and SVA.10 were employed by the Argentinean Servicio Aeronáutico del Ejército (Army Aeronautical Service) both in their first two fighter squadrons and their military flying schools. One SVA.5 became very famous after crossing the Andes twice, piloted by the Captain Parodi.
• Bolivia: Apparently some of them were used by the Bolivian Cuerpo de Aviación (Aviation Corps). We couldn't find graphical evidence so the drawing should be considered as speculative. UPDATE: The only Ansaldo SVA (most probably a SVA.5) to flight over Bolivia was the one belonging to Count Aldo Barbaro, one of South America's aviation pioneers. He flew in many occasions from lake Titicaca in Peru, to the city of La Paz, in Bolivia achieving various records within South American flights and was also the first South American aviator to reach 4000m high on a flight from Arequipa, in Peru to Oruro, in Bolivia. During one of those flights that took place on July 1923, his aircraft malfunctioned while he was approaching La Paz and his plane crashed killing him on the spot. Nowadays Count Aldo Barbaro is a hero both for Peru and Bolivia.
  It seems that in May 1920 an Italian officer, named Evaristo Ruffo, assigned to the military mission in Argentina, crossed the Argentino-Bolivian border to offer the Bolivian government five SVA.5 (among other many aircraft) in order to set-up an aviation school. However the deal couldn't be closed so the aircraft weren't delivered.
  Thanks to our follower Bluewarrior for giving us the information and providing us with photos.
• Brazil: It seems that some SVA were used by the Brazilian navy aeronautical service. As we couldn't information about these airplanes under Brazilian command, it's considered as speculative both the colours and the sub-model.
• Chile: The Italian colony in Chile bought an airplane and, when performing a demonstration flight, it crashed off the shore of Valparaiso in 1924.
• Ecuador: During 1921 Italy sent a military mission to Ecuador in order to form new pilots there. They bought together with them, an Ansaldo SVA.10, a Macchi M.18 a SAML S2 and an Aviatik D.I. The Ecuadorian aviation school opened up on July 1922.
• Georgia: During the Russian civil war, the Soviet Red Army invaded Georgia in 1921. It is known that the Georgians had a tiny air corps comprissed of some Sopwith Camel and some other SVA.10. Basing on how the Camel looked like, we have drawn the SVA.10, speculating of course.
• Latvia: The Latvian aviation corps had some SVA.10 in active during 1924 when one of them was sent for four days to the Estonian capital of Tallinn as a diplomatic action in order to improve relations between both countries.

Source (for Aldo Barbaro's history):
1. The comments and photos left by our follower, Bluewarrior. Thanks to him.
2. http://aviationpioneers.blogspot.com/2010/05/count-aldo-barbaro.html

Albatros D.II - German Users

We finish with this excellent German fighter by including the domestic users.

The Albatros D.II was an improved version of the Albatros D.I with many aspects improved like a much better upwards and lateral visibility.

It was introduced initially in the Jasta 2, the first specialized fighter squadron of the Luftstreitkräfte and it was the airplane of many famous German aces of the first world war like Oswald Boelcke or Manfred von Richtofen himself who claimed 16 victories flying this aircraft (even if it wasn't painted in his characteristic red yet). As a curiosity it's worth mentioning that von Richtofen was flying this airplane when he shot down the British ace Lanoe Hawker and he claimed his Lewis machine gun as a personal trophy. 

Shortly after being introduced, it took back the air superiority from entente fighters like the Airco DH.2 or the Nieuport 17, among others. 
The bulk of the production was taken by Albatros, however the LVG firm, also produced some of them. 
The production peaked in January 1917 when there were around 214 at active service. Although it was gradually replaced by the better Albatros D.III, some of them remained in active service until November 1917.

Airco DH.1

With great sorrow in our hearts after hearing about Paris and Beirut terror attacks, we continue with our drawings.

Today we bring you the first of the Airco De Havilland saga airplane designs.

The Airco DH.1 was an early pusher biplane copying a typical 'Farman' design employed by the Royal Flying Corps during the first world war.

It was designed by the famous designer Geoffrey De Havilland who got inspired by the design of the RAF Fe.2, because that one of the last designs he had worked on before leaving the Royal Aircraft Factory. Just like the Fe.2 it had a pusher configuration with the engine and propeller at the back of the cockpit. It was designed to carry two crewmen: a pilot and an observer/gunner in two bays.

Given the shortage of engine production during the war, the first prototype was powered by a Renault 70hp (52kw) instead of the intended Beardmore 120hp (89kw). However late production examples were powered by the Beardmore engine.

As it was already obsolete when it came out, it was only used in the Palestine campaing during the First World War by the No.14 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps in escorting missions for the BE2 reconnaissance airplanes. The rest of the airplanes served in home defence and trainer duties for the rest of the war. It was retired from service in 1918.

Albatros D.II - Foreign Users

We keep going with the Albatros fighter series. This time we deal with the foreign users of the D.II.

The Albatros D.II was a German fighter, an evolution of the D.I intended to solve the poor upward visibility issues by repositioning the upper wing closer to fuselage and slightly forward and re-arranging the cabane struts. Otherwise, it was basically the same aircraft as the D.I.

We have to note that at least three variants of this airplane existed:

• D.II Early production model: The initial production version with the upper repositioned in order to achieve better upward visibility and Windhoff 'Ear' radiators on the sides. 
• D.II Late production model: The late production model had the Windhoff radiators removed and replaced by a Teves und Braun type radiator placed on the center of the upper wing. This was done because the German Inspectorate for flying troops banned the usage of 'ear' radiators due to their position at a lower level than the crankcase of the engine they were intended to cool down. 
• Oeffag Va.53/Oeffag series 53: License built Austrian version of the D.II featuring it's own engine, a 138Kw (185hp) Austro-Daimler engine which was intended to achieve better results than the standard Mercedes D.III. It was manufactured during a brief period of time before switching production to the more advanced Albatros D.III. However, as the Austrian D.III proved, the Austro-Daimler engine, with the cylinder heads covered by a cowling proved to be much more suitable for winter operations.

It was employed by the following nations:

• Austro-Hungarian Empire: As we have said, Oeffag produced 16 examples before switching the production to the Albatros D.III. It should be noted that those 16 airplanes were unarmed since they were intended to be equipped with an fuselage-integrated Schwarzlose machine gun. The fate of those 16 airplanes it's unknown. Most probably they were reconverted into Albatros D.III
• United Kingdom: The Royal Flying Corps manage to capture at least one D.II and used it for testing purposes.
• Lithuania: After the Germans retreated from the baltic area many of the leftover airplanes were pressed into service in the newly created countries. It probably saw action at the Lithuanian war of Independence. (1918-1920)
• Ottoman Empire: The 6.Boluk (6th Squadron) was composed entirely by German pilots. It was equipped with D.II until the armistice and it saw action in the famous battle of Gallipolli.
• Poland: As Lithuania, some leftovers were taken over and pressed into service with the newly created Polish Air Force. Although liked by the pilots, it was outdated and, just as the Albatros D.III, it was used in the ground attack role during the Polish-Soviet war.

Albatros W.IV

Today, we follow with the Albatros familiy dedicating an entry to a direct variant of the D.I: The Albatros W.IV.

The Albatros W.IV was a floatplane fighter version of the Albatros D.I. Considering the fuselage itself only, it was different from the D.I in various aspects. It was almost one meter longer, it featured a new raised upper wing with a longer wingspan than the D.I, the engine had a different cowling configuration in order to prevent sea water to enter the engine, it had different (and shorter) tail surfaces than the D.I and it was equipped with a significally wider propeller in order to be able to take off from sea faster. 

Conceived as a floatplane that could defend the German naval bases in the North Sea and the Baltic, the prototype (numbered 747) carried only one machine gun but the next produced airplanes were equipped with two. It saw action mainly in the Baltic sea but also in the North Sea and the Mediterranean where a flight of 5 airplanes were sent in order to protect the Ottoman naval bases from Entente aerial raids the airplanes used in this theater had the cowling covering the engine removed in order to make the engine cooling faster. As the fumes coming from the exhaust tube could get the windshield dirty, a new exhaust tube was added.
Apparently, by July 1918 were delivered to the Austro-Hungarian naval aviation but, since we only could find text mentions, the drawing and the registration should be considered speculative. It's not known if those Austrian W.IV saw any combat action or where they were based on.

It was overall faster than any other floatplane fighter of these years, however when fighting against the heavier-armed flying boats of the RNAS (like the Felixstowe F.2A) it wasn't that successful given the big amount of defensive machine guns carried by the flying boat. Eventually it was replaced by two-seaters like the Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 which proved to be better for service in the sea.

Albatros D.I

The Albatros D.I was a German biplane fighter used during the First World War. Even if it's operational usage was short, it was the first of the operational Albatros fighters that configured the backbone of the German Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial Germany Army Air Service).

Designed by Robert Thelen, R. Schubert and Gnädig as a response against the newest entente fighters like the Nieuport 11 or the De Havilland DH2 which they were better than the Fokker Eindecker which, until this airplane was available, was the main German Fighter during the first period of the war. 

It was designed in a plywood made semi-monocoque fuselage suported by a minimal internal structure. The fuselage proved to be very aerodinamically clean.

It was powered by a 120Kw (160hp) Benz III or a Mercedes D.III engine. The enormous amount of power that any of those two engines provided, allowed the two Spandau machine guns to be fired without any loss of power. 

It had, however one important flaw. The higher wing was overloaded, causing a great loss of maneouvrability even if the speed and the firepower were excellent for it's time. The configuration of the higher wing made the pilot's upper and forward vision to be poor. Because of that, the production of this model was cancelled when only 50 units of it were manufactured and was replaced by the improved D.II version.  It was most probably the best fighter around in the first half of 1916 and there's no doubt why the German prince Friedrich-Karl  von Preußen chose this airplane to fight, even if he was shot down. That was maybe the most famous action this airplane took part on.

It was only used by the Luftstreitkräfte and, it is known that the French Aéronautique Militaire capture at least one airplane.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 - German Users

We finish with this excellent German floatplane fighter by adding the native users.

Designed to replace the older Hansa-Brandenburg W.12, it was basically a monoplane version of it. The monoplane configuration created much less drag and therefore greater speed and better performance. The performance was that great that, in some countries, it remained in active service until the early 1930s, as we have previously said in the post dedicated to it's foreign users.

Under Kaiserliche Marine (German Imperial Navy) command, it operated mainly from North Sea bases and it achieved a nice result watching and attacking ships sailing around those waters.

SPAD S.VII - Sixth entry, French Users.

We finish the series of entries dedicated to the SPAD S.VII with an entry dedicated to the native users of this excellent airplane and an update on the fourth entry just to update the American users, check the updated entry by clicking here.

First tested in April 1916 it showed an excelent speed (192km/h - 119 Mph) and a remarkable diving performance. Compared to their Nieuport 'rivals', it performed much better. It's rugged airframe made it much harder to shoot it down. However some pilots complained about it's lack of maneouvrability, compared to lighter airplanes like the Nieuport 17.

It arrived at the frontlines in August 1916 in small numbers. It wouldn't be until the first months of 1917 that it would be widely employed at the frontlines. The first versions had many defects, for instance the engine used to overheat in hot weather and didn't warm up in cold weather. Problems that were, generally, solved applying field modifications. For instance, many pilots flew without the engine cowling to make the engine cool down faster, while others flew with the cowling applied in order to make the engine warm faster, everything depending on the weather.

The second batch of airplanes, which solved many of the aforementioned problems, included an improved version of the engine which made the airplane to perform even better, raising it's top speed from 192km/h-119mph to 208 km/h- 129mph. Improvements that were gradually applied to new manufactured models and they became standard.

Barrón W

Given that most of the visits we receive on this blog come from Spain (maybe it's somehow related to where the blog is hosted), we decided to get some info, some good English-Spanish dictionaries in order to get some info and then, we started drawing a native Spanish airplane.

Designed by the Cuban born Spanish captain Eduardo Barrón, who based this design on the Lohner 'Pfeilflieger' or Lohner B.I (the first aircraft unit he commanded back in 1913, in Tétouan -Spanish Morocco-). His first design was the 'Flecha' (Arrow) dating back from 1915 which was a modified Lohner B.I. which served as the platform for this one which entered service in 1917 and was, basically a modified B.I powered by a Hispano-Suiza 8A engine. It featured also some other features like independent seats for pilot (who sat at the back) and the observer.

This airplane could reach altitudes of 4750m ,which, back then set a new record in Spain as not any Spaniard had reached such high. However, as it entered in service very late (in 1917) there were far better airplanes which were also affordable and that's how it was replaced by the better Breguet XIV which arrived in Spanish soil in 1919. Because of that, no more than 12 units were manufactured and was quickly retired from active service. The only armed conflict were they saw some action was during the tumultuous period previous to the Rif War and they served from the Tétouan and Zelouan aerodromes where, given the hazards of the climate, they didn't perform well as they weren't adapted to 'tropical' climates.

We also decided to let the imagination flow for a little and thought about possible countries that could have existed back during the 1910s and could have bought this airplane and that's why we decided to draw also a fictional Moroccan profile.

Technical Data:

Wingspan: 14m

Height: 3,5m

Length: 8m

Wing Area: 40 square meters

Empty Weight: 650Kg.

Total Weight: 1150Kg

Wing Load: 28,8 Kg per square meter

Engine: Hispano-Suiza 8A (140HP)

Max. Speed: 130Km/h

Climbing Speed: 1000m in 5 minutes.

SPAD S.VII - Fifth entry, British Users.

For this entry we have decided to use the French roundel, but, however, the British one would also be valid as this airplane was also produced (though it wasn't designed) in the UK.

The Royal Flying Corps was the first foreign air service to receive the SPAD S.VII. Only two squadrons used it on the western front, the 19th and 23rd squadrons. However, the flying schools in the UK and the 30th squadron, serving in Mesopotamia (nowadays Iraq), used it. Generally the British-built SPAD were used for training purposes and in Mesopotamian front due to their inferior quality and the French built ones were used in the Western Front. In the western front it was eventually replaced by the Sopwith Dolphin during the early months of 1918.

It is interesting to point out that many sub-variants were made by the British out of this airplane. Initially, the inclusion of two lewis machine-guns above the upper wings (a common feature shared with other British airplanes) was intended to compensate somehow the lack of firepower of the S.VII as it had only one MG, however this method proved to be clumsy against another airplanes but very effective for ground attack missions performing straffing attacks, so we could say that maybe it was one of the earliest multi-role fighters in history.
Another interesting field modification was the one depicted as 'tropicalized'. Taking some parts of an already obsolete SPAD A.2, they made an improved version of an S.VII ready to serve better under desertical enviroments. By cutting the exhaust tubes down, the sand couldn't enter in big quantities into the radiator, the engine could cool down faster, by replacing the standard windshield with a more enclosed metalized one, much less sand was blown into pilots face when flying and by re-enforcing with metal some parts on the vertical stabilizer, the ailerons worked better in a desertical environment.
We shouldn't forget that, years later, during the Second World War, to have tropicalized versions of any fighter (Bf.109 or Spitfire) was a very common feature in almost every army involved in the conflict.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 - Foreign Users Part one

Today, we take some rest from the French SPADs and we start another project that, hopefully, won't take too long.

The Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 was a German monoplane floatplane fighter that served in the closing months of the Great War.
Designed originally to replace the W.12 it proved to be a successful design with less drag and much more speed than the W.12. It was designed by Ernst Heinkel, the founder of Heinkel aviation company.

It was much more used after the war as it was developed in Norway, in the Kjeller factory and was manufactured under license in many parts of the world.

• Austro-Hungarian Empire: Ordered 25 W.29 to be built at UFAG factory in Budapest. Only one was completed. As we couldn't find graphical info, the best we could do with the colours was to speculate about them.
• Denmark: Bought one from Germany, and manufactured under license another 15 more, used by the Royal Danish Navy. It featured a locally produced engine and it's local designation was HM.1. They remained in active service until 1930.
• Finland: Apparently the Finnish air service had one in commission during 1920. As we couldn't find graphic info about this one, we are speculating about it's colours.
• Hungarian Soviet Republic: When the Hungarian Soviet Republic was declared the W.29 that was completed to serve with the K.U.K. was pushed into service with their new owners. It was based at Cspel, near Budapest.