Schiefer Robbins Pursuit Plane 1917

[Dynoman]

The aircraft was manufactured by an office furniture builder in San Diego and resembled a lighter Neiuport 28 with landing gear similar to an S.E.5. The aircraft cost about half of what the Air Service had paid for their aircraft of less performance and did not believe the aircraft's performance numbers.

Vintage WWI Experimental Aircraft Photograph Schiefer Robbins Pursuit Plane 1917 | eBay

Up for sale is a pair of Vintage WWI Experimental Aircraft Photographs of the Schiefer Robbins Pursuit Plane from 1917. The Scheifer Robbins Pursuit Plane was built in San Diego during WWI as an experimental aircraft for the US Government. One of the photos has an attached hand written note with...

www.ebay.com

 

[Dynoman]

More information on the aircraft via the Aerodrome Forum:

"The man who is holding the machine at the tail is Nova B. Robbins, the designer of this fighter, designed for combat use in WW1. Robins was a civilian flight instructor, who died in the winter 1918 influenza epidemic."
"Frank Schiefer was a prominent San Diego office furniture builder, who financed the building of the machine. The machine was a very lightweight fighter machine strongly resembling a Nieuport 28 with the landing gear resembling that of the S.E.5."
"The machine had a very high performance (147 miles/hour) and made about 100 flights without any failure or breakage."
"Perhaps the most significant thing that caused the demise of this unique aircraft was the fact that it just priced itself out of production. After paying as much as $5,200 for the nine cylinder engine, the completed aircraft was offered to the Army at a ridiculously low-price of $12,000. Washington laughed at the price--they were used to paying over $25,000 for aircraft that could attain speeds of only 100 mph., and could not conceive that such a low-price aircraft could perform as promised."
The forum considers that the experimental aircraft's speed may be an exaggeration despite the fine craftsmanship and light weight construction. They place the performance closer to 110 mph than the 147 mph quoted.

 

[Dynoman]

Another view of the Schiefer Robbins Pursuit

A quick demonstration of how light the aircraft was and the strength of its landing gear.

 

[hesham]

Nice pictures my dear Dynoman,

and from the book, American Fighter.