Albatros L 72 - Design & Development

Design & Development

The L 72 was a single-engine biplane of conventional configuration with unstaggered wings of equal span. It was the first German commercial aircraft to incorporate leading edge slots and trailing edge flaps. The upper and lower wings were interchangable. They were of all metal construction with fabric covering. The thickened centre section of the upper wing contained the fuel tanks. The upper wing was carried on a tubular cabane and one set of 'N' formation interplane struts was provided with stream-lined wire bracing. The fuselage was built of welded steel tubing with diagonal wire bracing and was fabric covered. Aft of the pilot's cockpit was a cabin containng a conveyor-like device which could accept up to 16 parcels of newspapers weighing 10 kg. each. These could then be dropped, either by an attendant travelling in the cabin or by the pilot, an indicator in the cockpit indicating how many parcels had been dropped. A novel feature of the tail was the rudder and fin which were both pivoted in such a way that when the rudder was turned the fin also turned around a vertical axis thus providing a more powerful rudder control for a smaller angular movement