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B.I
Role	Reconnaissance aircraftType of aircraft
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Rumpler
First flight	1914
Primary user	Luftstreitkräfte
Number built	ca 225

The Rumpler B.I (factory designation 4A) was a military reconnaissance aircraft produced in Germany during World War I.

Design and development

The B.I was a conventional two-bay biplane with unstaggered wings of unequal span. It featured two open cockpits in tandem and fixed, tailskid undercarriage. Its upper wing reflected the wing design of the Etrich Taube that Rumpler was building at the time.

Rumpler built 198 of these aircraft for the Luftstreitkräfte, plus 26 seaplane versions for the Imperial German Navy.

Variants

• 4A - landplane with Mercedes D.I engine, military designation B.I
  • 4A13 - B.I with balanced, comma-style rudder
  • 4A14 - version with Benz Bz.III engine
• 4B - seaplane
  • 4B1 - version with Mercedes D.I engine
  • 4B2 - version with Benz Bz.III engine
  • 4B11 - version with Benz Bz.I engine
  • 4B12 - version with Benz Bz.III engine

Operators

 Denmark

• Royal Danish Air Force - Postwar.

 Germany

• Luftstreitkrafte
• Kaiserliche Marine

 Turkey

• Ottoman Air Force

Specifications

Data from Gray & Thetford 1962, p.518

General characteristics

• Crew: Two, pilot and observer
• Length: 8.40 m (27 ft 7 in)
• Wingspan: 13.00 m (42 ft 8 in)
• Height: 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in)
• Empty weight: 750 kg (1,650 lb)
• Gross weight: 970 kg (2,100 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.I , 75 kW (100 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 145 km/h (90 mph, 78 kn)

Notes

1. Taylor 1989, p.771
2. ^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, p.2833
3. ^ Gray & Thetford 1962, p.518
4. Gray & Thetford 1962, p.519
5. ^ Gray & Thetford 1962, p.520
6. ^ Kroschel & Stützer 1994, p.127

References

• Gray, Peter; Owen Thetford (1962). German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam.
• Herris, Jack (2014). Rumpler Aircraft of WWI: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 11. n.p.: Aeronaut Books. ISBN 978-1-935881-21-6.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing.
• Kroschel, Günter; Helmut Stützer (1994). Die Deutschen Militärflugzeuge 1910–1918. Herford: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn.
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.

Further reading

• Nicolle, David (March–April 1999). "Young Turks: Ottoman Turkish Fighters 1915–1918". Air Enthusiast. No. 74. pp. 40–45. ISSN 0143-5450.

• Rumpler aircraft
• 1910s German military reconnaissance aircraft
• Single-engined tractor aircraft
• Biplanes
• Aircraft first flown in 1914
• Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear