Kleiner Freund - Zeppelin Staaken R.VI by Ivan Berryman. [Postcard]

Artist: Ivan Berryman [browse all Ivan Berryman]   

With a wingspan of 42.2 metres, the mighty Zeppelin Staaken series of bombers were truly awesome, living up to their name Riesenflugzeug - Giant Aircraft. Unusually for this period, the crew compartment of the R VI was fully enclosed and the bomb load was carried internally. The four engines were mounted in tandem pairs, two pushing and two pulling, which eliminated the need for complex gearing, and the flight engineers sat in cockpits in the engine nacelles. This example is shown limping home, its rear port engine stopped and smoking, escorted by its Little Friend, an Albatros D.V. The painting shows the Staaken bomber is quite badly shot up. There are bullet holes all over the port wings, tailplane and rudder, as well as the engine trailing smoke from a small oil fire in the nacelle, which the engineer is keeping an eye on.

Postcard size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)