Daimler CL.I (L8)

Daimler CL. I (L8) History

During World War I, the German company Daimler-Motorengesellschaft-Werke was asked to build fighter planes. They created the Daimler "D. I" in 1917, equipped with dual machine guns and fixed landing gear. Only six were completed before the war ended.

Another aircraft, the Daimler Cl. I, was developed to escort bombers. It had an open cockpit for two crew members, with the pilot in front and a gunner/observer in the back. It used a 185 hp Daimler D.IIIb V8 engine and had one forward-facing machine gun and another in the rear cockpit.

The Cl. I had unequal-span biplane wings and flew at around 93 mph. Only one prototype was completed before the war ended, and a proposal to use it in Chile was rejected, ending the project.

Specification

Basic

Year of Service: 1918

Origins: German Empire

Status: Development ended.

Crew: 2

Production: 1+

Manufacturer: Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Daimler) - German Empire

Operators: German Empire

Roles

Air-to-air combat, fighter: The general ability to actively attack other aircraft of similar form and function, usually using guns, missiles and/or airborne missiles.

Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR), reconnaissance: Monitor ground targets/target areas to assess surrounding threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

X-Plane (development, prototyping, tech demos): Aircraft designed for prototyping, technology demonstration, or research/data collection.

Dimensions and Weight

Length: 24.4 feet (7.45 m)

Width/span: 38.8 feet (11.82 m)

Height: 9.7 ft (2.95 m)

Cured weight: 1,808 lbs (820 kg)

MTOW: 2,712 lbs (1,230 kg)

Wgt Difference: +904 lbs (+410 kg)

Performance

Installed: 1 x Daimler D.IIIb V8 185 hp water-cooled engine, driving a twin-blade nose-mounted propeller unit.

Max Speed: 93 mph (150 kph | 81 kts)

Ceiling: 16,404 ft (5,000 m | 3 mi)

Range: 186 mi (300 km | 556 nm)

Rate-of-Climb: 550 ft/min (168 m/min)

ARMAMENT

1 x 7. 92mm LMG 08/15 air-cooled, belt-fed machine gun in fixed, forward-firing mounting synchronized to fire through the spinning propeller blades.

1 x 7. 92mm Parabellum machine gun on trainable mounting in rear cockpit.