Etrich Aircraft

[hesham]

Hi,

Austrian Igo Etrich (1879-1967) was experimented in aeronautics from 1899. After
working with engineer Franz Wels he made a tailless glider with backswept wings in
1907.


1909 Etrich "Nurflügel" (Only Wings) tractor monoplane
1909 Etrich Taube (Dove) tractor monoplane
1909 Etrich-Wels "Praterspatz" (Prater sparrow) tractor monoplane
1910 Etrich II "Taube" (Dove) 2-seater tractor monoplane
1910 Etrich II modified "Taube" (Dove) tractor monoplane
1910 Etrich III "Möve" (Seagull) tractor monoplane
1910 Etrich IV "Taube" (Dove) tractor monoplane
1910 Etrich V "Taube" (Dove) tractor monoplane
1910 Etrich VI "Taube" (Dove) tractor monoplane
1911 Etrich "Etrichapparat" monoplane
1911 Etrich IV "Manövertaube" (Military Dove) Type B military 2-seater monoplane
1911 Etrich VII "Renntaube" (Racing Dove) 3-seater racing monoplane
1912 Etrich VIII "Luft-Limousine" ("Air Limousine") 4-seater high wing monoplane
1912 Etrich IX "Schwalbe" ("Swallow") monoplane
1912 Etrich X ----?
1912 Etrich XI ----?
1912 EFW Etrich XII "Rennapparat" ("Racing Machine") 2-seater bomber monoplane
1912 Etrich "Manövertaube" ("Military Dove") Fype F 2-seater military monoplane
1913 EFW Etrich Taube Type 1913 2-seater bomber monoplane
1914 Type A-1 & A-2 were a military airplanes

Who can add ?

 

[Cy-27]

There is also the 1906 Etrich-Wels Zanonia (see http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14984.msg267141.html#msg267141) and the post-WWI Etrich Limousine currently on display in Prague.

 

[Tuizentfloot]

Another puzzle, my dear hesham...

May I make some additions? With the usual complications for the type designations of those years…

A number of types from your list are Taubes built by Lohner, who did the series building of the Taube in Austria. The Etrich-Flieger-Werke GmbH (established in 1911) did the development and design of new types, and also did series building of the standard Taube. At the beginning of WWI the Etrich-Flieger-Werke were taken over by the Castiglioni concern.

Due to license problems in Germany and the conflict with Edmund Rumpler the successful Taube design was copied by numerous other constructors, but that is another history.

If we don’t count all those legal or illegal copies and clones, I came to the following compilation of constructions by Igo Etrich himself (and with his father Ignaz and Franz Xaver Wels) and by Lohner:

Etrich Gleitflieger (1900) – glider, not very succesful.

Etrich-Wels Modell Zanonia (1904) – small model glider to test the Zanonia wing form (a second copy had a small 3,5 hp engine, but was unable to take-off with it).

Etrich-Wels Zanonia-Gleiter (1906) – designed as a motorized plane, but tested as an unmanned glider.

Etrich-Wels Zanonia-Gleiter – 1st modification (1907) – modification of the former glider, with smaller dimensions. Succesful flights.

Etrich-Wels Zanonia-Gleiter – 2nd modification “Praterspatz” (1908) – the former with 24 hp Antoinette. Unable to fly.

Etrich-Wels Zanonia-Gleiter – 3th modification “Praterspatz” (1909) – with forward elevator and pusher propeller. Engine: 24 hp Antoinette. Unsuccesful.

Etrich-Wels Zanonia-Gleiter – 4th modification “Praterspatz” (1909) – the former with directional rudder and small nosewheel. Engine: 24 hp Antoinette. Succesful flights (the first successful Austrian motorized plane).

Etrich I (1907) – motorised plane in the style of the Zanonia-Gleiter (but lighter) with 24 hp Antoinette and pusher propeller. Unable to fly.

Etrich I – 1st modification (1908) – modifications of fuselage, undercarriage and lateral control. Tractor configuration.

Etrich I – 2nd modification (1909) – modifications of fuselage and lateral control. Succesful flights and real precursor of the Taube series.

Etrich II Taube (1910) – the first Taube, based on the different modifications of the Zanonia-Gleiter and the Etrich I. Engine: 40 hp Clerget. Succesful, and different modifications during tests.

Etrich III Möve (1910) – in Taube style with 70 hp Austro-Daimler, and later 65 hp Austro-Daimler. The next Etrich IV had better performances.

Etrich IV Taube (1910) – a little bigger than the Taube II, with 65 hp Austro-Daimler. Built by Lohner (see below).

Etrich Schwalbe I (1911) – with semi-circular wings and 65 hp Austro-Daimler. Then the fastest plane in Austria. Built by Lohner.

Etrich Schwalbe II (1911) – so-called “kleine Schwalbe” with 65 hp Austro-Daimler. Only one flight.

Etrich Luftlimousine (1912) – with enclosed cabin for two. Engine: 65 hp Austro-Daimler.

Etrich Eindecker (1912) – single seater in the Luftlimousine style, but with the pilot in the open air.

Etrich Taube Type 1913 (1913) – the standard Taube built by the Etrich-Flieger-Werke.

And those built by Lohner:

Lohner-Etrich Taube (1910) – the Etrich IV Taube built by Lohner in five copies ordered by Etrich, and called Lohner-Etrich Taube III to VII (or E III to VII). The E III went to Rumpler in Germany.

Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie A (1910) – the former modified by Lohner, still with the 65 hp Austro-Daimler. Six were built (E VIII – XIII). E VIII was the first Austrian military Taube. And in 1911 E XII was modified into a racer 120 hp Austro-Daimler as the Lohner-Etrich Renntaube (or Rennapparat).

Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie B (1911) – modification for the Austrian military, five built (E XIV – XVIII).

Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie C (1911) – military modification, five built (E XIX – XXIII). Four went to the Austrian military, and one to Russia.

Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie D (1912) – modification for competitions, seven built.

Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie E (1912) – modification with double controls. Seven built of which four to the Austroan military, and one each to Great Britain and Italy.

Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie F (1912) –modification for the Austrian military with 90 hp Austro-Daimler. Fourteen built, with names commencing with A (Aar, Achilles, …).

Lohner-Etrich Type 1913 (or Lohner Eindecker Type 1913) – competition type with 95 hp Austro-Daimler, 85 hp Hiero, 100 hp Mercedes or 70 hp Renault. Five built, of which two to Spain (with Renault).

Lohner Schichtpreis Etrich-Gnome-Eindecker (1914) – monoplane more or less in Taube style for the 1914 Schichtpreis. One built with 80 hp Gnome. After the outbreak of WWI wnt tot he Austrian military as 10.15.

The sources for my compilation:
Keimel, Luftfahrzeugbau in Österreich (2003)
Keimel, Österreichs Luftfahrzeuge (1981)

As usual all comments or additions are welcome!

 

[hesham]

Excellent,many thanks to my dears Cy-27 and Tuizentfloot.

 

[Tuizentfloot]

And I forgot a post WWI Etrich plane. Trautenau, where Igo Etrich lived, was after WWI part of Czechoslovakia (Trutnov). And here in 1929 a built a low-cost plane with 40 hp engine he called Sport-Taube. Due to problems with the certification only one was built.

 

[Maveric]

...

 

[Tuizentfloot]

This is the 1929 Etrich Sport.

 

[hesham]

This is the 1929 Etrich Sport.

Thank you at first my dear Tuizenfloot,

and was there an aircraft series after WWI ?.

 

[Richard N]

Taube, Dove of War by Col. John A. de Vries

The best book I've come across about the origin and descendants of Etrich's Taubes. It has many photos and drawings. Available for a reasonable price from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Taube-Dove-War-John-Vries/dp/0911852824

 

[Tuizentfloot]

After WWI Igo Etrich returned to Trutnov (ex Trautenau) and was busy with his textile factory. It was in this factory that he built his only post WWI plane, the 1929 Sport-Taube.
By the way, the Sport-Taube still exists and can be seen in the Národní technické muzeum in Prague (see first photograph in the posting by Maveric).

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dear Tuizentfloot,

but I would to ask,Maveric displayed airplane called E-VIII,that means there was early
series from E-I to E-VII,what was those aircraft ?.

 

[Tuizentfloot]

I never saw the designation E-VIII for the 1929 sports plane, but one never knows… I wonder what the source is.

Designations in the style E-… exist for individual Taubes from the series built by Lohner, rather than as a type designation:
E-III tot E-VII were the five Lohner-Etrich Taube of the 1910 type
E-VIII to E-XIII: Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie A
E-XIV to E-XVII: Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie B
E-XIX tot E-XXIII: Lohner-Etrich Taube Serie C
I have no information about an eventual E-I or E-II.

This is rather confusing as early Taubes built by Etrich were also designated as II or IV…

In all Lohner built 58 Taubes of different types, of which 29 went to the Austro-Hungarian military.

Some were adapted by Fliegerarsenal Fischamend as trainers (called “Taube S”) or side-by-side two-seaters (called “Taube X”). And Fliegerarsenal Fischamend built also a number of illegal or semi-legal Taubes (it was not only in Germany that the Taube was copied…).

A number of survivors of the early Taubes were designated as Lohner-Etrich A.II (Fd) after the outbreak of WWI. The 10 survivors of the Serie F became Lohner-Etrich A.I (Fd).

A lot of parallel names existed. The Serie B was also called “Maneuver Etrich 1914”, and the Serie F “Maneuver Etrich 1912”, and many more.

 

[hesham]

Excellent my dear Tuizentfloot.

 

[Tuizentfloot]

And not Maneuver Etrich 1914 but Maneuver Etrich 1911…

Sorry, a typo of mine…

 

[hesham]

was it Etrich E-VIII ?;

http://www.avia-it.com/act/biblioteca/periodici/PDF%20Riviste/Ala%20d'Italia/L'ALA%20D'ITALIA%201930%2003.pdf

 

[Tuizentfloot]

The very few Italian I can decipher is enough to see that the article is about the 1929 Sport-Taube Etrich built in Czechoslovakia and gives a general description. About the blurred photograph is said it is a design (so not a retouched photograph). And that the first tests took place in Trautenau.

In any case, the empennage doesn't correspond with the real one as shown on the museum plane.

Over to someone with more knowledge of the Italian language.

 

[hesham]

OK my dear Tuizentfloot.

 

[Avimimus]

Etrich Luftlimousine (1912) underwent a number of modifications and there was probably more than one prototype. Modifications appear to have included the addition of a third wheel (anti-rollover) and reportedly moving the pilot's position to a third seat further back (with an exposed cockpit for the pilot).

Reports of a four seat version might come from the fact that this third pilot's seat isn't visible in photographs, but two rows of seats are (and it was assumed that they were two rows of two side-by-side seats) - however, this is speculation on my part. I'm just guessing at reasons why different sources report two, three, or four seats.

 

[Avimimus]

Re: Etrich Aircraft (Luft-Limousine length/Austro-Daimler engine)

So, an article from Flight in 1915 confirms it was modified to have side-by-side seating...

Does anyone have an idea of how long the piston block was on the "Austro-Daimler 60 hp" (no other info...)

I'm hoping to get a better estimate of the aircraft's length (the 12 metre wingspan quoted is a suspiciously round number).

 

[Grey Havoc]

https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/beginnings-aircraft-manufacture-austria

Before the First World War approximately half a dozen companies tried to set up in aircraft manufacture, but they all had to give up.
A more sustainable development was started by the aeroplane constructor Igo Etrich. In April 1910 his successful design the Etrich II, known as the Taube (Dove), had its maiden flight in Wiener Neustadt. This aeroplane was not very manoeuvrable, but it had stable flying qualities. The strong demand for it led Etrich to start series production in Ludwig Lohner’s carriage works in Vienna from 1910, and he sold the patents for Austria-Hungary to the Motorluftfahrzeuggesellschaft (MLG) company. This had been founded by Camillo Castiglioni, an entrepreneur from Trieste, in April 1910, together with the Austrian Daimler Engine Company. At Daimler it was Ferdinand Porsche who developed the first Austrian aircraft engines. Then close cooperation between MLG and Lohner began. The Lohner works built the aeroplanes, for which MLG took over the exclusive sales rights for a commission of 15%. In return they paid two-thirds of the costs of Lohner’s aircraft development bureau. The models designed there included the successful Pfeilflieger (Arrow Flyers) and flying boats for the navy. Castiglioni and Lohner jointly set up the Ungarische Flugzeugwerke (Ufag) company to build aircraft in Hungary and in 1914-15 expanded into the German Empire, where they merged three companies to form the Hansa-Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke. The two entrepreneurs managed to achieve a monopoly in the Austrian aircraft industry, but soon fierce conflicts broke out between the two very different personalities. Lohner came from a family of old established entrepreneurs in Vienna, while Castiglioni was a self-made man from Trieste. Each tried to achieve control over the entire group of compamies. In 1915 Castiglioni bought out Lohner’s stake in MLG and Ufag, although to begin with the contracts for the sale of Lohner aircraft by MLG remained in force. Further conflicts followed, which could be settled only by recourse to a court of arbitration in 1917.

https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/situation-austro-hungarian-aviation-corps-years-1914-15

As a result of technical and budget problems the aviation corps had an urgent need for new aircraft when the war began. The aging Pfeilflieger and Etrich Taube had to be replaced by more modern aircraft, with aircraft technology developing at a rapid pace.
At the beginning of the First World War the Austro-Hungarian aviation corps was inadequately prepared for active service. In spring 1914 the most important aircraft type, the Lohner Pfeilflieger, had been grounded after incidents where the wings had broken. Tests conducted by a team headed by Professor Richard Knoller of the Technical University in Vienna had shown that the wings did not have the necessary load-bearing capacity and needed to be strengthened. This led to delays in procuring further aircraft and at the beginning of the war the aviation corps fell far short of the fifteen fully equipped companies of airmen (known as Flik) that had been planned. In August 1914 there were just nine such companies ready for active service.