Heavy_bomber_DFW_R_II_3

First R.II (R.15) first took to the skies Sept. 17, 1917. The flight was successful in all respects but one: in spite of a much wider support of the engine, causing concern vibrations were still common. The problem was the large number of remote speed transmission shaft, and it was solved by lining the shaft in rigid tubes with rings of ball bearings.

In March 1918, Zaberski Myussigbrodt (Sabersky-Müssigbrodt) returned to DFW (left in 1916, having gone to the LVG), became chief engineer of aircraft R-class. April 1, 1918 R.15 was taken to Riesenflugzeugersatzabteilung (Rea: providing aircraft separation R-Class) in Cologne. The long period of R-class aircraft Addiction DFW delayed their start-up, then surpassed DFW Staaken aircraft in flight performance, reliability and capacity. None R.II was not on active duty - their functions have been attributed to trenerovku aircrew and conduct experiments. Sometime in 1918, R.15 suffered a serious accident which Elior equipped for life crippled.