Focke-Wulf F 19 Ente

The Focke-Wulf F 19 Ente, the Duck, was an experimental canard aircraft designed and produced by Focke-Wulf. It was a high-wing monoplane with the stabiliser at the front, a fixed tricycle undercarriage and a pair of Siemens Sh 14 seven-cylinder engines of up to 110 horsepower hung from the main wing. The layout echoed pioneering European aircraft from before the First World War and promised an aircraft that was nearly stall-proof, because the forward surface, set at a greater angle of attack, would stall before the main wing. Focke-Wulf approached the DVL with the proposal in 1925 and built the first aircraft at the Gottingen Experimental Institute after model and wind tunnel tests. It made its maiden flight on 2 September 1927 and was destroyed on 29 September during a demonstration of single-engine flight, when a control rod broke. A fire in 1929 delayed the second aircraft.