Roland C.II Walfisch

Produced by Luft Fahrzeug Geselleschaft (L.F.G.), the Roland Walfisch ("Whale") was an interesting design that mounted the upper wing flush with the top of the fuselage, allowing the pilot and gunner to look upwards without any obstruction to their field of view. The plane was deployed in 1916-17. Performance was good, but handling a little tricky. Little other historical information is available.

The C.II burns 6 gallons of aviation fuel per hour of routine usage. The plane had a historical endurance of 4 hours. A full load of fuel and ammo (excluding bombs) costs $32.

Roland C.II Walfisch

Subassemblies: Light Fighter chassis +3; Recon Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 120-kW HP gasoline engine with 120-kW old prop and 60-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 2 XCS Body

Cargo: 10 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C

Wings: 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/7.92 mm Spandau [Body:F] (1,000 rounds).

Aircraft LMG/7.92 mm Parabellum [Body:B] (1,000 rounds).

4x27.5-lb. Bombs [Body:U].

Equipment:

Body: Casemate and high-angle mount for rear MG, four 27.5-lb. hardpoints.

Statistics:

Size: 25'x34'x?' Payload: 0.5 tons Lwt.: 1.42 tons

Volume: 144 Maint.: 91 hours Cost: $4,864

HT: 9. HPs: 50 Body, 100 each Wing, 8 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 102 aAccel: 2 aDecel: 25 aMR: 6.5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 44 mph. Take-Off Run: 277 yards. Landing Run: 194 yards.

gSpeed: 147 gAccel: 7 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: Very High. 1/8 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 280 sf. MG load outs and fuel capacity are a guess. Design payload was 1,000 lbs; no historical value was located. Design aSpeed was 98 mph. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight. The weight, cost and HPs of the wings were doubled to increase design weight; the weight was increased another 1% to the historical. The forward Body MG is synchronized, lowering RoF by 10% (see p. W:MP8).

Variants:

The C.IIa featured revised and reinforced wingtips.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS

© 2008 by Jim Antonicic