Unknown

The aircraft known only as “Unknown” was a little‑known prototype built by the German firm Luft‑Fahrzeug‑Gesellschaft (LFG) toward the end of the First World War. Conceived in 1917 as a response to the Imperial German Army’s demand for a faster, more maneuverable reconnaissance platform, the design combined a compact, wooden airframe with a streamlined, rounded fuselage that set it apart from the company’s earlier “Starke” and “V 6” series. Powered by a 120 hp Oberursel rotary engine, the Unknown featured a cantilever wing with a slight dihedral, integrated ailerons on both upper and lower surfaces, and employed a novel steel tube tail‑boom that reduced weight while increasing rigidity. Although only a handful of examples were completed before the Armistice halted production, the aircraft demonstrated a superior climb rate of 1,200 ft/min and a top speed of 115 km/h, outperforming many contemporaries in its class. Its experimental control layout and use of metal fittings anticipated design trends that would dominate German aviation in the 1920s. Today the Unknown is regarded as a transitional step that bridged early wooden biplanes and the more advanced metal‑structured monoplanes that followed, marking an important, if obscure, milestone in LFG’s development history.

Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft

Classification

Design & Classification