Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven 947

No. 947
A forward oblique view of the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven 947
Role	Maritime reconnaissance floatplane Type of aircraft
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven
First flight	1916
Number built	1

The Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven 947 was a maritime reconnaissance floatplane built for the Imperial German Navy's (Kaiserliche Marine) Naval Air Service (Marine-Fliegerabteilung) during the First World War, the sole example of its type.^[1][2][3] It was one of only three armed aircraft built by the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven amongst a variety of trainer seaplanes that they had produced for the Navy during the course of the war.^[1] Number 947 was a two-bay biplane of conventional design, with twin pontoon undercarriage, and two open cockpits in tandem.^[1][2] It received the Naval classification CHFT,^[3] indicating an armed aircraft equipped with radio gear capable of both sending and receiving.^[4]

The design bore a resemblance to a pair of trainer seaplanes produced at Wilhelmshaven (Nos 461–462) and to a design from Kaiserliche Werft Kiel (Nos 463–466), and all three designs could have been the work of the same designer or designers.^[1] The machine was evaluated by the seaplane testing unit (SVK – Seeflugzeug-Versuchskommando) at Warnemünde at some point, but the records that have survived are somewhat contradictory.^[1] In any case, no further examples were constructed.^[1][3]

Data from Kroschel & Stützer 1994, p.145, Gray & Thetford 1962, p.451

General characteristics

• Crew: Two, pilot and observer
• Length: 13.00 m (42 ft 8 in)
• Wingspan: 15.95 m (52 ft 4 in)
• Height: 4.00 m (13 ft 2 in)
• Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.IV , 160 kW (220 hp)

Armament

• 1 × trainable 7.9 mm machine gun

• Gray, Peter; Owen Thetford (1962). German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam.
• Herris, Jack (2015). German Seaplanes of WWI: Sablatnig, Kaiserliche Werften, Lübeck-Travemünde, LTG, & Oertz: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 15. n.p.: Aeronaut Books. ISBN 978-1-935881-27-8.
• Kroschel, Günter; Helmut Stützer (1994). Die Deutschen Militärflugzeuge 1910–1918. Herford: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn.
• Nowarra, Heinz J. (1966). Marine Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War. Letchworth, Harts: Harleyford Publications.