Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.III

The Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.III, wrongly called the Dornier Rs.III after the war, was a large four-engined monoplane flying boat designed by Claudius Dornier and built in 1917 at the Zeppelin-Lindau works on the German side of Lake Constance. It drew on the lessons of the Rs.I and Rs.II, keeping the broad hull and the push-pull tandem engine nacelles but replacing the open tail boom with a steel and Duralumin fuselage set on the centreline of the high wing, and replacing the heavy tubular trusses with ordinary wire bracing. The high fuselage carried gun positions, a soundproof wireless cabin and the tail unit. Flight testing began in November 1917 with good results, and on 19 February 1918 it made a seven-hour non-stop delivery flight to the Norderney seaplane station. The Imperial German Navy cleared it for service on 13 June 1918. After the Armistice it flew mine-clearing duties until the Allied Control Commission ordered it scrapped in July 1921.