Country of origin:

Germany

Description:

Two-seat fleet observation and patrol floatplane

Power Plant:

One 112 kw (150 hp) Benz Bz III six-cylinder in-line liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Provision to carry up to four light Carbonit bombs

History:

Friedrichshafen Flugzeugbau GmbH was founded in 1912 in the town of that name on Lake Bodensee in Germany, this area being famous for its construction of the Zeppelin airships during World War I. The Company employed the Zeppelin facility at Manzell, and also set up operations at Weingarten and Warnemunde. Production was mainly of seaplanes for the German Navy, the Company eventually being taken over by Dornier. The Company built almost 800 aircraft, of which some 500 were of the FF 33 series, the FF 33E being the most prolific.

The FF 33E was a two-seat reconnaissance biplane fitted with twin floats built for the German Air Force during World War I, being designed in 1915. Production numbers were not great, only 188 examples having been delivered when production ceased in January 1918. A number of variants were built, including examples with a wireless transmitter and receiver, and a dual control trainer. Six examples were supplied to the Swedish Navy in April 1918, comprising three FF 33Es and two FF 33Ls, the latter being slightly smaller and lighter.

One visited this region on board the ‘SMS Wolf’, a German armed merchant cruiser. On board was an FF 33E floatplane (Serial 841) named ‘Woelfchen’ [Wolfcub] which was flown by pilots Leutnant M A Stein and Oberflugmeister Paul Fabeck on reconnaissance duties. This vessel, of 5,902 tonnes (5,809 tons), was a converted cargo steamer capable of 20 km/h (12.6 mph) under the command of Fregattenkapitan (Captain) Karl Nerger, carrying a crew of 350, being armed with seven 15 cm (5.9 in) guns, four torpedo tubes, 465 mines, and various small calibre weapons on the super structure, and being one of a number of such sea-raiders which patrolled the world’s sea lanes during World War I.

The aircraft was flown to Kiel in the State of Schleswig-Holtstein on 14 November 1916, dismantled and placed under a tarpaulin on the deck. However, during firing practice the ribs of the wings were crushed by the blast from the guns and the ship had to return to port where the wings were repaired The wings thereafter were stowed below decks and the fuselage being stored in a wooden shed on board the vessel. The ‘Wolf’ left Kiel on 30 November 1916 and returned on 24 February 1918, having captured 14 ships and sinking others by gunfire or by laying mines.

The ‘Woelfchen’, which was fitted with a wireless receiver and sender, was otherwise unarmed, but often carried a small bomb load. It flew a total of 78 sorties during the cruiser’s 452 days at sea and was responsible for long-range reconnaissance, spotting Allied merchantmen and, when necessary, bombing ships attempting to evade capture. Prolonged exposure to differing climates and temperatures meant the aircraft had to be completely re-covered three times, and underwent major repairs and refurbishment during the voyage.

When a ship was sighted the aircraft was lowered overboard, took off on the open sea, flew to the enemy ship and would, if necessary, drop a bomb nearby to force the ship to stop whilst the ‘SMS Wolf’ approached. The first capture of a ship in which the ‘Woelfchen’ took part was on 1 March 1917 when the British cargo ship ‘Jumna’ was stopped. Damage regularly was occasioned to the aircraft but it was repaired by the crew. The ‘Woelfchen’ made 14 flights in the North Indian Ocean.

On 16 March 1917 the vessel headed for Australia and New Zealand, and in May the aircraft made a number of flights to locate shipping. During the following months the ship patrolled shipping lanes between Sydney, NSW and Suva, Fiji. On 12 July 1917 the aircraft was extensively damaged when it hit a swell on take-off. It was repaired and test flown on 27 July.

One ship captured was the ‘Wairuna’ of 3,962 tonnes (3,900 tons), a New Zealand ship bound for San Francisco, California from Auckland. It seems the ‘Wolf’ and its aircraft spent quite some time in the Pacific region. Attempts were made by Australian navy ships ‘HMAS Brisbane’ and ‘HMAS Encounter’ to locate the ‘Wolf’ but without success.

A Farman Shorthorn (CFS-17) from Point Cook, VIC was also, along with an RAF FE.2b, used to try and locate the ‘Wolf’. In the course of the cruise the ‘Wolf’ sank or captured 28 Allied vessels. This was the first ship-board aircraft to be carried by a merchant raider at sea, and could well have been the first operational use of an aircraft by any combatant ship on the high seas.

After the ship’s return to Germany Captain Nerger wrote about the voyage and claimed the FF 33E flew over Port Jackson, Sydney, NSW. In 1927 whilst visiting Sydney Leutnant Stein addressed an audience of members of the Sydney German Club and stated he had flown the FF 33E over Sydney in 1917 whilst the vessel was in the Tasman Sea but “could not bomb the city where he had spent so many pleasant pre-war days”. He also stated the reconnaissance was to assess the number of warships stationed in the harbour at the time.

Investigations over the years have indicated that this flight almost certainly did not occur. Leutnant Stein also boasted to the prisoners-of-war who were on board the ‘Wolf’ at the time that he had flown over Sydney Harbour. However, the prisoners later stated the aircraft was dismantled and stored at that time. Be that as it may, as noted by historian, the late Wing Cmdr Keith Isaacs, AFC, CRAeS, RAAF in his book ‘Military Aircraft of Australia 1909-1918’, “the Friedrichshafen FF 33E goes down in history as being the first enemy aircraft potentially to threaten the security of the Australian mainland and its adjacent sea-lanes. As such, it has a place in the history of the military aircraft of Australia”. It is interesting to note that following newspaper reports of a “seaplane over Sydney Harbour” police received more than 20 sightings of the aircraft on the Australian eastern seaboard.

The vessel ‘Wolf’ on its return was welcomed in Germany, arriving in Kiel on 24 February 1918. The crew then travelled to Berlin, marched through the city, and were then posted to other parts of the German Navy. After World War I the ‘Wolf’ was taken as reparation by France, was renamed the ‘Antinous’ and was operated with the Messageries Maritimes Cargo company until broken up in 1931.