1. Design and development

2. Operational history

3. Robbe II

4. Variants

5. Specifications (BMW IV engine)

6. References

The Rohrbach Ro VII Robbe ({{lang-en|Seal}}) was an all-metal, twin engine flying boat built in Germany in the 1920s. It could be adapted to commercial or military rôles.

Design and development

As the full company name (Rohrbach Metall-Flugzeugbau) makes clear, all Rohrbach aircraft were all-metal, including their duralumin skinning. The Robbe was a monoplane with a high wing described at the time as a semi-cantilever structure, meaning that there were no rigid wing struts but that it retained external bracing with flying wires to the wings from the lower fuselage. The wings were mounted with 5° of dihedral. In plan they were straight tapered, with unswept leading edges and blunt tips. Internally the wings were built around single box spars, assisted by leading edge and trailing edge boxes. The edge boxes also served as fuel tanks. At this time there were still doubts about the repairability of metal aircraft, so the Robbe's two-part wing was designed to be easy to inspect internally by the removal of the edge boxes and all parts were replaceable. The wing skin was riveted to the ribs.^[1]

The hull was flat-sided and deep. Its underside had two steps; in front of the first the hull bottom was a hollow V in section and behind it a flat V. There was a little water rudder behind the rear step. Pilot and mechanic sat side-by-side in an open cockpit, with gunner's positions ahead of them and at the trailing edge. Alternatively, the Robbe could be configured to carry four passengers, one in a forward cabin, two in a central one and one more im a rear cabin, or to carry goods or post. The hull was divided into seven watertight compartments to preserve buoyancy.^[1] An unusual feature of each gunner's cockpit was a duralumin, telescopic mast. If, in an emergency the Robbe alighted without power, these could each be extended and a simple, triangular sail raised to reach safety.^[3] At the rear the tail was conventional, with a blunted rectangular fin and small unbalanced rudder. The high aspect ratio horizontal tail, again rectangular apart from blunted tips, was mounted well up the fin and strut-braced to the upper fuselage. Like the rudder, the elevators were unbalanced.^[1]

To keep them clear of the spray of take-off, each of the Robbe's two {{convert|230|hp|kW|abbr=on|order=flip}} BMW IV water-cooled six cylinder upright inline engines was mounted in pusher configuration high above the wings on vertical faired steel tube N-form struts, the forward inner one particularly sturdy, and with transverse V-strut bracing with its apex on the central, upper fuselage. The engines were cooled with radiators in the front of the engine cowling and behind shutters controlled from the cockpit. There was a reserve fuel tank above each engine.^[1]

The Robbe had upward tilted, stabilizing, chined floats at about one third span, each mounted on N-form struts and transversely braced with converging struts to the wing below the engine mountings. Each float was divided into three watertight compartments.^[1]

Operational history

The first flight of the Robbe I, as the model described above became known, was in 1925.^[7] By the following summer two had been built and were taking part in a seaplane contest on the Warnemünde, though they did not complete it.^[3][9]

In August 1926 the Robbe set at least four world speed records for aircraft carrying loads of {{convert|500 and 1000|kg|lb|abbr=on}} over distances of {{convert|100 and 500|km|mi|abbr=on}};^[10] two of these remained unbroken well into 1927.^[11]

Robbe II

Rorhbach built a third Ro VII, the Robbe II. Though the layout was the same as the Robbe I and some elements were common to both, the Robbe II was considerably larger and more powerful. It had a new, strongly straight tapered, wing with sweep only on the leading edge^[12] and a span of {{convert|21.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. It was {{convert|15.2|m|ftin|abbr=on}} long and had a loaded weight of {{convert|5050|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in nine-seat passenger configuration.^[13] Pilot and mechanic had a low glazed enclosed cockpit ahead of the wing leading edge.^[12] Since the Robbe II was about 50% heavier than the earlier version it required more power. Construction began with the intention of fitting a pair of {{convert|350|hp|kW|abbr=on|order=flip}} BMW V water-cooled six-cylinder inline engines^[13] but when completed it had a pair of BMW VI V-12s, each developing {{cvt|600-700|hp|kW|disp=flip}}.

It flew for the first time in the last quarter of 1927 in passenger configuration, with four porthole style windows in the cabin walls.^[12][13] Two military versions were proposed, a marine reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft and a conventional and torpedo bomber, both with three crew and machine guns or cannon; the loaded weight of the bomber was {{convert|5550|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.^[13]

The Robbe II had a maximum speed speed of {{convert|220|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} and alighted at {{convert|135|km/h|mph|abbr=on}}. Its range was about 17% lower and ceiling 5% lower than those of the earlier version.

Variants

Ro VII Robbe I

First version, with {{convert|230|hp|kW|abbr=on|order=flip}} BMW IV 6-cylinder engines.

Ro VII Robbe II

Larger and heavier, with {{convert|600-700|hp|kW|abbr=on|order=flip}} BMW VI V-12 engines.

Specifications (BMW IV engine)

|genhide=
|crew=Two
|capacity=Four passengers
|length m=13.2
|length note=
|span m=17.4
|span note=
|height m=5.5
|height note=propellers running
|wing area sqm=40
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=1:7.6
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=2000
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=3360
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity={{convert|484|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
|more general=

|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=BMW IV
|eng1 type=water-cooled 6-cylinder inline engine
|eng1 hp=230
|eng1 note=
|more power=
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=
|prop dia m=
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|prop dia note=

|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=210
|max speed note= at {{convert|2000|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|cruise speed kmh=150
|cruise speed note=^[22]
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed mph=
|stall speed kts=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed kmh=
|minimum control speed mph=
|minimum control speed kts=
|minimum control speed note=
|range km=1200
|range note= at {{convert|180|km/h|mph|abbr=on}}
|endurance=
|ceiling m=4500
|ceiling note= service
|g limits=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude= 16 min to {{convert|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|sink rate ms=
|sink rate ftmin=
|sink rate note=
|lift to drag=
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading lb/sqft=
|wing loading note=
|fuel consumption kg/km=
|fuel consumption lb/mi=
|power/mass=
|more performance=

• Landing speed: {{convert|116|km/h|mph|abbr=on}}

References

• Little Creaton
• Little Creek-Cape Charles Ferry
• Little Creek Ferry System
• Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base
• Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, Virginia
• Little Criminals (film)
• Little Critter
• Little Crosthwaite
• Little Crow Foods
• Little Crow's War
• Little Crystal
• Little Cuckoo Dove
• Little cuckoo-dove
• Little Cumania
• Little Cumberland Island Light
• Little Current
• Little Current, ON
• Little Current Swing Bridge
• Little Current Water Aerodrome
• Little Cypress
• Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD
• Little Cypress Mauriceville CISD
• Little Cypress Mauriceville Consolidated Independent School District
• Little Cypress-Mauriceville Consolidated Independent School District
• Little Cypress-Mauriceville Consolidated ISD