LFG Roland D.VI

LFG Roland D.VI

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D.VI

Role	Fighter
Manufacturer	LFG Roland
First flight	1917
Introduced	1918
Primary user	Imperial Germany
Number built	350

The Roland D.VI was a fighter aircraft commissioned by the German Empire during World War I.

The Roland D.VI was developed by the Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft (L.F.G.), (whose aircraft were made under the trade name "Roland" post-1914 to avoid confusion with the Luftverkehrsgesellschaft m.b.H (L.V.G.)) late in 1917, with the prototype, the 1000th aircraft to be built by L.F.G. first flying in November 1917. The D.VI was a single bay biplane which discarded the so called Wickelrumpf, or semi-monocoque fuselage used in previous L.F.G aircraft such as the Roland C.II, D.I and D.II, in favour of the equally unusual (for aircraft use) Klinkerrumpf (or clinker-built construction where the fuselage was built of overlapping strips of spruce over a light wooden framework.Visibility for the pilot was good, while the aircraft had above average manoeuvrability.

Two D.VIs were entered into the first fighter competition held by Idflieg at Adlershof in January 1918, one powered by a 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes D.III engine and the other by a Benz D.III of similar power. Although the main winner of the competition was the Fokker D.VII, orders were placed for the Roland as a backup against production problems with the Fokker. A total of 350 were built, of which 150 were of the D.VIa version, powered by the Mercedes engine, while the remaining 200 were powered by the Benz III engine and were designated D.VIb. Deliveries started in May 1918, with 70 D.VIs in frontline service on 31 August 1918.

The Roland offered little better performance than the aircraft that it was meant to replace, however, with 1918 both Allied and German air technology, notably the Pfalz D.XII and Fokker D.VII, had rendered the LFG Roland nearly obsolete.