Lohner C.I Reconnaissance Biplane Fighter

Specifications

Year: 1916
Manufacturer(s): Lohner - Vienna
Production: 40
Capabilities: Reconnaissance (RECCE);

Crew: 2
Length: 30.25 ft (9.22 m)
Width: 44.16 ft (13.46 m)
Height: 10.66 ft (3.25 m)
Weight (Empty): 2,013 lb (913 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 2,998 lb (1,360 kg)

Power: 1 x Austro-Daimler 6-cylinder liquid-cooled inline engine developing 160 horsepower.

Speed: 85 mph (137 kph; 74 kts)
Ceiling: 11,483 feet (3,500 m; 2.17 miles)
Range: 112 miles (180 km; 97 nm)
Rate-of-Climb: 350 ft/min (107 m/min)

Operators: Austria-Hungary

The Lohner C.I was nothing more than the armed version of the two-seat Lohner B.VII reconnaissance aircraft fielded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War 1. The B.VII itself was a derivative (and improved form) of the pre-war B.I biplane series that spawned the B.II, B.III, B.IV, B.V and B.VI types. The B.VII became the definitive form of the two-seat platform and accepted into military service by August of 1915.

While some B.VII models were armed with machine guns once in the field, the C.I became a dedicated armed variant from the start and underwent production of some forty examples at Lohner and Ufag plants. The C.I was also given an engine cowling as opposed to the open-engine look of the preceding B.VII production models. Power was supplied from a single Austro-Daimler inline liquid-cooled engine of 160 horsepower. Armament was a single 8mm machine gun on a flexible mounting in the rear cockpit (seating was for two in tandem in an open-air cockpit).

Externally, the C.I sported biplane wing assemblies with sweep-back, double-bays and parallel struts with applicable cabling. The wings were staggered with the lower assembly positioned some distance aft of the upper. The forward fuselage was dominated by the large powerplant and cooling system to which the former powered a two-blade wooden propeller. The cockpit was situated ahead of amidships while the fuselage tapered sharply into a conventional empennage. The empennage sported a single vertical tail fin and swept-back horizontal planes. The undercarriage was a traditional affiar featuring two large main wheels and a tail skid.

Production of the C.I, like the B.VII, concluded in 1917 - surpassed by mounts of greater performance and firepower.

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

Armament

STANDARD:
1 x machine gun in rear cockpit.

OPTIONAL:
Up to 180lbs of internally-held ordnance.

Variants / Models

• B.I - Early War Model; unarmed
• 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.