Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI

The Zeppelin-Staaken R.XVI was a very large bomber, a Riesenflugzeug, designed and built in Germany during 1918, and an incremental improvement to the R.VI. It had four engines in a push-pull configuration, mounted in nacelles large enough for flight mechanics to carry out some inflight maintenance. Three aircraft were ordered from Automobil und Aviatik at Leipzig-Heiterblick, but only two were completed and only one of them, R.49, flew before the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Flight testing began in September 1918 and a landing accident in October caused significant damage. The second aircraft, R.50, was completed in 1919 as a civilian airliner and flown to Döberitz for storage in November 1919, while the third, R.51, was three quarters complete at the Armistice and was never finished.