The Lohner Arrow-Plane

30 July 1914

The most modern and capable aeroplane used by the Austro–Hungarian aviation units now mobilising against Serbia is the Pfeilflieger (“Arrow-Flier”). This biplane is the design of Rittmeister (Cavalry Captain) Hans Umlauff von Frankwell and is manufactured for the Army by the Jacob Lohner Company of Vienna. 

For the most part, the Pfeilflieger has a familiar, Blériot-style design. That is, the major components of the aeroplane are arranged on a fuselage with a single engine and airscrew at the front and a secondary aerofoil and fin making up an empennage (tail unit) at the rear. Its most remarkable and distinctive feature—and the source of the “Arrow-flier” appellation—is its sharply swept-back wings, as illustrated in the photograph below.

This sweep-back provides the Pfeilflieger with excellent stability, in both pitch and roll.

The first Pfeilflieger flew nearly four years ago, on 18 October 1910, and Lohner has made progressive refinements to the design ever since. In 1912, Ritter Philipp Blaschke von Zwornikkirchen used one example to set world altitude records by flying himself and two passengers to 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) and, on a separate flight, flying with a single passenger to 4,260 metres (14,000 ft). In June last year, Karl Illner, again with a Pfeilflieger, increased these records to 4,700 metres (15,400 ft) and 5,180 metres (17,000 ft) repectively. This April just past, two Pfeilflieger were the only entrants to complete the gruelling competition for the Schicht prize—a round trip from Vienna to Prague, Teplitz, and Brunn, back to Vienna, on to Budapest, then back to Vienna once more; a total journey of some 1,200 km (750 miles). Winning pilot Viktor Wittmann received a 100,000-krone prize. The top speed of current models is a very respectable 110 km/h (70 mph).

Located in Floridsdorf in the north of Vienna, the Lohner-Werke was founded in 1821 by Heinrich Lohner, grandfather of present proprietor Ludwig Lohner. Originally a coach-building firm, Lohner expanded to automobiles in the year 1900 and to aeroplanes in 1909. The first aircraft the firm produced was the ubiquitous Taube (“Dove”) designed by Igo Etrich. Last year, Lohner became the exclusive supplier of aircraft to Austria–Hungary’s Imperial and Royal army.

Powerplants for Lohner aircraft are sourced from Austro–Daimler in Wiener Neustadt, where they are designed by engineer Ferdinand Porsche. Porsche is himself a former Lohner employee, the firm’s automobile designer from 1898 to 1905.

Pfeilflieger production suffered a major setback earlier this year when a defect in the wing design was found to have caused a number of serious accidents, at least three of them killing airmen. The army’s fleet was temporarily grounded while the firm supplied redesigned and strengthened replacement wings.

A total of forty-nine of the type now equip army aviation units, where they are used for scouting.