Oertz W.7

Maveric

Maveric

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Hi my friends,

I hope one of you can help. I need informations (pics, drawings, data sheet) of the german WWI flying boat Oertz W.7...
I can´t find anything. I hope of you!!!

Thanks Maveric
 
Maveric said:
Hi my friends,

I hope one of you can help. I need informations (pics, drawings, data sheet) of the german WWI flying boat Oertz W.7...
I can´t find anything. I hope of you!!!

Thanks Maveric
Click to expand...

This is gonna be a tough one... I can find pics of Oertz W.4, W.5, W.6 and W.8 in various books (beautiful flying boats, all), but none of the elusive W.7!
 
Thanks patvig. I have simplified your link and moved your post to the appropriate topic (you had posted it in Maveric's German glider thread instead!).
 
No definitive answer, sorry.
The W.7 is mentioned in Fred Gütschows "Die deutschen Flugboote", as "probably similar to its predecessors".
Not very helpful, although a look into Gray/Thetford "German Aircraft Of the First World War" shows, that the W.4,
W.5 and W.8 actually were quite similar, with just the W.6 "Flugschoner" (flying schooner), tandem wing flying boat
as an exception from this pattern. On http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/viewtopic.php?t=6180 two naval series
numbers are given (474 and 475), so we probably know at least the number of built or ordered aircraft.

But the source mentioned by patvig, the "Atlas deutscher und ausländischer Seeflugzeuge" could be a very
welcome addition indeed ! ;)
 
One publication that seems to contain a tiny bit of info (and possibly even a picture) of the W.7 is Over the Front, Volume 14, published by the League of World War I Aviation Historians in 1999 (found this in a quick Google Books search).
 
Mystery solved? The W.7 might have been... the Hansa-Brandenburg W 35! Well at least it's our best lead yet... ;)

From Aeronautics Volume 17, 1919:

The successes of the American flying boat gave an additional impetus to the work of the Oertz company, and they combined with the Brandenburg Aircraft Company to build two large flying boats with two engines of 300 h.p. each. The bodies of these boats were finished when the terms of the armistice brought all construction to a sudden end.
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From Cross & Cockade Journal Volume 4, 1963

This aircraft, subsequently designated the W 35 has an obscure origin. Because of their experience in constructing large flying boat hulls, the firm of Oertz was chosen to construct the hull. It is believed that Oertz was in fact the designer of the W 35. But because the firm was taken over by Hansa-Brandenburg on 1 October, 1918, it appears in all of the documents as a Hansa-Brandenburg design. Certainly both companies influenced the design of the W 35; the wing is reminiscent of the Brandenburg W 29, and the wide hull is typically Oertz. By the wars end the Oertz shops had completed two hulls, but no further work was done.
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And until the mystery can be solved for good (will it ever?) here is the best source I've found on Oertz flying boats, a great 5-page article published in Flight dated October 9, 1919:
 

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Great research, Stéphane !
A plausible solution, as Oertz principly was a designer for yachts with a great knowledge
and expertise in building wooden hulls. So, from a business standpoint, this takeover was
logical for the main manufacturer of seabased aircraft and re-designating the Oertz designs
then, too.
 
Hi,


the Oertz W.7 was a seaplane biplane of 1916,powered by one Maybach Mb III engine.
 
The Oertz W 7 was a flying boat biplane with the engine inside the boat.
The engine was a Maybach Mb III (Nowarra, Kroschel, ...), but Lange states it was a Daimler (without specification).
One built: Marne Ne. 474.
Marine Ne. 475 als reserved fot this type.
 
Congratulations ! A great discovery in a difficult field. Thanks for not forgetting and sharing the result.
 
Tuizentfloot said:
Another picture from the photo archive of Bruno Lange at the website of the Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin ("Flugboot W 7 mit Daimler im Boot, Marine-Nr. 474"): https://www.sdtb.findbuch.net/php/m...312e303036&ve_vnum=1048#56492e312e303036x1759
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I think , it is the W.8 (little floats at the wings end + inclined external wings struts)

Here , the W.7 , from an advertisement for this book , found somewhere on the net :
https://www.amazon.com/German-Seaplanes-WWI-Kaiserliche-Lübeck-Travemünde/dp/1935881272
 

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Indeed, it is the W 8. The W 7 didn't have little floats at the wings end. Even Bruno Lange wasn't infallible...
The statement in his Typenhandbuch that only Marine-Nr. 474 was built is also incorrect.
I have "German Seaplanes of WWI" by Jack Herris (2015), but I can't find the two photographs of 475. Possibly from a later edition? In the edition I have there is only a photograph with the caption "this unidentified Oertz flying boat may be the elusive W 7...."
Some other photos of 474 and 475 can be found in the 2019 "WWI Aircraft Photo Extra 1" also by Herris (p. 99 -100).
 

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