Country of origin:

Germany

Description:

Three-seat light sport flying-boat

Power Plant:

(Libelle II)

One 60 kw (80 hp) ADC Cirrus III four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Dornier Libelle was a three-seat light sport flying boat built in the 1920s by Dornier Metallbanten at Freidrichshafen in Germany and was delivered in some numbers. Development began in the summer of 1920 and the prototype made its first flight on 16 August 1921. It was built of all-metal, with steel framework and duralumin covering, the tail and rudder being fabric covered. It was produced in three variants with a variety of engines available.

The Libelle I had the 41 kw (55 hp) Siemens five-cylinder radial engine; the Libelle II had the seven-cylinder 60 kw (80 hp) Siemens radial or the four-cylinder Cirrus III in-line unit; and the variant known as the Spatz, produced in 1924, the prototype of which flew on 12 February 1924, had a three-cylinder Bristol Lucifer engine of 75 kw (100 hp).

Three examples came to this region. One VH-ULS (c/n 103) was imported by the General Aircraft Company Ltd in July 1929 and was test flown in Sydney, NSW on 31 July 1929 in the hands of Alexander N ‘Jerry’ Pentland. In that month Mandated Territory Airways Ltd took possession of the Libelle, planning to operate a Sydney to Newcastle, NSW service but this did not eventuate, and shortly after the engine was changed to the ADC Cirrus to improve performance, modifications being made to the tailplane, elevator, fin and rudder.

Twelve months later ownership was transferred to the Port Jackson Aviation Company in September 1930 and loaded weight was increased to 710 kg (1,565 lb). In May 1931 the registration lapsed and it was dismantled and stored. Ownership was transferred to S J Masterman of Tulagi, British Solomon Islands, and it was shipped there in 1935. It was flown at Tulagi on 19 April 1936 but, after travelling about 3.2 km (2 miles), it crashed and rolled over, being extensively damaged, and was written off.

An example was imported to New Zealand by Aerial Services Ltd, becoming ZK-ABI (c/n 101) in late 1929. It was assembled and test flown from Mechanics Bay on Waitemata Harbour in Auckland in October 1929. It was the first all-metal aircraft to be registered in New Zealand. It is interesting to note it did not survive long enough for the registration markings to be painted on the aircraft. It suffered two minor collisions with boats whilst operating in the region before, on 13 December 1929, it spun and crashed into the sea off Milford Beach, killing the pilot, Captain D E Harkness DSC, and the company engineer, C F Goldsboro.

A further example was imported to Fiji as DQ-FAB (c/n 117). Little is known about its history but it is known it was found in the yard of Fiji Builders, Ellery Street, Suva in 1978 with the airframe in a badly corroded condition and without its engine. The wings were stored in the rafters of a nearby building. Reports indicated after it was retired the engine was utilised to operate timber-cutting equipment in the 1960s. The wreck was obtained by Mr J M Carswell, Principal of the Derrick Technical Institute, and engineering students completed it to static display standard. It was shipped to Germany in 1978 where it has been placed on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich painted as VQ-FAB.

In later years the partially completed fuselage of what was probably a Dornier Libelle replica has been noted in a hangar at Wedderburn, NSW.