Lohner B.VII Reconnaissance Fighter / Light Bomber (1915)
The Lohner B.VII was the unarmed version of the Lohner reconnaissance planes that included the armed C.I.
Design of the original Lohner B.I series began before the hostilities of World War 1 broke out across Europe, this by the Jakob Lohner AG firm. The B.I was an unarmed reconnaissance platform with seating for two, swept-back biplane wings and a 90 horsepower Austro-Daimler engine. Not wholly satisfied with the performance of the B.I, Jakob Lohner and his team devised successfully progressive and more powerful forms of the B.I that became the B.II, B.III, B.IV, B.V and ultimately the B.VI. It was not under the development of the definitive B.VII that this Lohner aircraft series finally came into its own.
The Lohner B.VII took on a distinct planform. Like those Lohner designs before it, the B.VII featured swept back biplane wings with double bays and parallel struts. These were staggered and fitted above and ahead of the pilot with the lower wing assembly showcasing dihedral (upward angling). The large liquid-cooled engine obstructed some of the forward view and powered a two-blade propeller. The observer/gunner sat in the separated rear portion of the open air cockpit (the two personnel were seated in tandem) and was the trained lookout doubling as a machine gunner if the aircraft was armed as such. The fuselage, with its straight-faced sides, tapered off into a conventional empennage with large-area horizontal planes (also featuring sweep back) and a single vertical tail fin. The undercarriage was traditional of the times and fitted two main landing gear wheels on braced struts along the forward underside of the fuselage coupled with a simple tail skid at the extreme aft-end of the tail. Interestingly, the Lohner aircraft could sport an internal bomb payload of up to 180lbs.
Lohner produced two versions of this reconnaissance plane - the B.VII and the C.I. The B.VII was the (generally) unarmed model and fitted with either a 150- or 160-horsepower Austro-Daimler engine to which 73 of the type were produced (while categorized as unarmed, some B.VIIs did fit a trainable machine gun in the rear cockpit). The C.I represented the "official" armed version, this fitting a single machine gun on a flexible mounting in the rear cockpit for the observer/gunner. The C.I was assigned an Austro-Daimler 6-cylinder inline liquid-cooled engine of 160 horsepower under an engine cowling (the B.VII showcased an exposed engine and no engine cowl) and built to the tune of some 40 examples.
The B.VII sported a wingspan of 50 feet, 6 inches. Endurance was a reported 6 hours in the air while a rate-of-climb of 350 feet-per-minute was possible. The B.VII entered service in 1915. As the B.VII showcased generally excellent endurance for an aircraft of the Great War, this translated to fine long-range service and proving adept at scanning the fronts across Italy. Its bombload did involve the aircraft in occasional strike missions as needed, against both ground-based structures and naval vessels in the region. The armed C.I entered into service with the Austro-Hungarian Empire a short time later in 1916.
By 1917, both Lohner reconnaissance types were removed from frontline service and had their production lines reassessed. All aircraft were produced by Lohner (some C.Is were also manufactured by Ufag) in Austria-Hungary for the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops. Text ©2003-2013 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • No Reproduction Permitted
MilitaryFactory.com does NOT sell equipment/weaponry. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance or general operation. Please consult manufacturers for such information. Our disclaimer. Email corrections / Comments to MilitaryFactory at Gmail dot com.
Specifications for the
Lohner B.VII
Reconnaissance Fighter / Light Bomber
Country of Origin: Austria-Hungary
Manufacturer: Lohner - Vienna
Initial Year of Service: 1915
Production: 73
Focus Model: Lohner B.VII
Crew: 2
Length: 31.17ft (9.5m)
Width: 50.52ft (15.40m)
Height: 12.30ft (3.75m)
Weight (Empty): 2,013lbs (913kg)
Weight (MTOW): 2,998lbs (1,360kg)
Powerplant: 1 x Austro-Daimler inline engine of 150 horsepower.
Maximum Speed: 85mph (137kmh; 74kts)
Maximum Range: 112miles (180km)
Service Ceiling: 11,483ft (3,500m; 2.2miles)
Rate-of-Climb: 350 feet per minute (107m/min)
Hardpoints: 0
Armament Suite:
OPTIONAL:
Up to 180lbs of internally-held ordnance.
Variants:
B.I - Early War Model; unarmed
B.II - Differing engine
B.III - Differing engine
B.IV - Differing engine
B.V - Differing engine
B.VI - Differing engine
B.VII - Unarmed Model; fitted with Austro-Daimler engine of 150 or 160 horsepower; 73 examples produced; appearing August 1915.
C.I - Fitted with Austro-Daimler engine of 160 horsepowwer; armed with 1 x machine gun in rear cockpit (trainable mounting); engine cowling; 40 examples produced; appearing 1916.
Operators: Austria-Hungary
BY DECADE:
• 1900 to 1909
• 1910 to 1919
• 1920 to 1929
• 1930 to 1939
• 1940 to 1949
• 1950 to 1959
• 1960 to 1969
• 1970 to 1979
• 1980 to 1989
• 1990 to 1999
• 2000 to 2009
• 2010 to 2019
• 2020 to 2029
• VIEW ALL
• Compare Aircraft
BY TYPE:
• Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
• Attack Helicopters
• Bomber Aircraft
• Medium Bombers
• Heavy Bombers
• Close-Air Support (CAS)
• Commercial Aircraft
• Dive Bombers
• Electronic Warfare Aircraft (EWA)
• Experimental / X-Planes
• Fighter Aircraft
• Floatplane Aircraft
• Flying Boat Aircraft
• Aerial Refueling Tankers
• Helicopters (ALL)
• Interceptor Aircraft
• Multi-Role Aircraft
• Navy Carrier Aircraft
• Night Fighters
• Reconnaissance / Scout
• Search & Rescue (SAR)
• Scout Helicopters
• Special Purpose
• Torpedo Bombers
• Trainer Aircraft
• Transport Aircraft
• Transport Helicopters
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
• Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs)
COLLECTIONS:
• 4th Generation Fighter Aircraft
• 5th Generation Fighter Aircraft
• US X-Planes
• Classic US Warbirds
• French Military Helicopters
• Grumman "Cats"
• Howard Hughes Aircraft
• Indian Air Force
• Israeli Air Force
• Libyan Aircraft
• Modern Chinese Aircraft
• Modern Chinese Fighters
• Modern Military Aircraft
• Modern North Korean Aircraft
• Modern Trainer Aircraft
• Modern US Aircraft
• Mikoyan Aircraft
• Sukhoi Aircraft
• Syrian Aircraft
• Top 10 Fighter Aircraft of All Time
AIRCRAFT BY CONFLICT:
• Arab-Israeli War (1948)
• Cuban Missile Crisis (1959-1962)
• Falklands War (1982)
• Indo-Pak War (1965, 1971)
• Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
• Lebanon War (1982)
• Operation Allied Force (1999)
• Operation Desert Storm (1991)
• Six Day War (1967)
• Spanish Civil War (1936)
• Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989)
• Yom Kippur War (1973)
MISCELLANEOUS:
• Aircraft Cockpits
• Aircraft Manufacturers List
• Aircraft Timeline
WORLD WAR 2:
• 1939 Aircraft
• 1940 Aircraft
• 1941 Aircraft
• 1942 Aircraft
• 1943 Aircraft
• 1944 Aircraft
• 1945 Aircraft
• 1946 Aircraft
• Australian Aircraft
• Battle of Britain Aircraft
• Bombers
• Four-Engine Bombers
• British Aircraft
• British Bombers
• British Transports
• Dive Bombers
• Canadian Aircraft
• Fighters
• Chinese Aircraft
• French Aircraft
• German Aircraft
• German Fighters
• German Flying Boats
• German Jets
• Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe
• Italian Aircraft
• Imperial Japanese Aircraft
• Imperial Japanese Fighters
• Mitsubishi Bombers
• Navy Aircraft
• Pearl Harbor
• Polish Aircraft
• Romanian Aircraft
• US Aircraft
• US Bombers
• US Navy Aircraft
• Soviet Aircraft
• Torpedo Bombers
• Transport Aircraft
• Tuskegee Airmen Aircraft
• W.A.S.P. Aircraft
• WW2 Aircraft Ranked by Speed
• VIEW ALL
WORLD WAR 1:
• 1914 Aircraft
• 1915 Aircraft
• 1916 Aircraft
• 1917 Aircraft
• 1918 Aircraft
• Aircraft Timeline
• Austro-Hungarian Aircraft
• Bomber Aircraft
• British Aircraft
• Fighters
• Flying Boats
• French Aircraft
• Imperial German Aircraft
• Italian Aircraft
• Scout Aircraft
• Russian Empire Aircraft
• US Aircraft
• WW1 Aircraft Ranked by Speed
• VIEW ALL
KOREAN WAR:
• Australian Aircraft
• Korean War Aces
• Korean War Jets
• North Korean Aircraft
• US Military Aircraft
• VIEW ALL
VIETNAM WAR:
• Helicopters
• North Vietnam Air Force
• US Airpower
• VIEW ALL
COLD WAR:
• 1950s French Aircraft
• British V-Bombers
• Cold War Bombers
• Soviet Aircraft
• Soviet Bombers
• Soviet Interceptors
• Soviet Helicopters
• Strategic Air Command
• US Aircraft
• US Bombers
• US Interceptors
• VIEW ALL
©2013 www.MilitaryFactory.com • Content ©2003-2013 MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Site Contact Email: militaryfactory at gmail dot com. The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® trademarks and protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws.
Top MF Stuff: 2013 Military Pay Scale | Military Ranks | WW2 Weapons | Sniper Rifles | Kts to Mph | WW1 Aircraft | Automatic Rifles | Aircraft Cockpits | Vietnam War Weapons | Main Battle Tanks | Submachine Guns | Shotguns | French Military Victories
Most photographic images appearing on this site are courtesy of the United States Department of Defense and are approved for public use. Other images acquired through the public domain. Digital art work courtesy of Dan Alex. Business Consulting by Kyle Williams. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance or general operation. Please consult manufacturers for such information.
