The Siemens-Schuckert D.IV; Best Fighter of the First World War?

Most are familiar with the Sopwith Camel and the Fokker Dr.I. But less well known is the Siemens-Schuckert D.IV - probably the most formidable fighter of World War One.

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[pastorrich]

The Schuckert D.IV was the BEST plane offered in the old DOS game "Red Baron". If you could live long enough to get to that late in the war it was a joy to fly.

[nonamesplease]

This was also named as the best WWI fighters in the recent Hush Kit book. It looks like a beast.

[SoloRenegade]

I often dis-include the D.VIII, Siemens-Schuckert D.IV, Sopwith Snipe, and others from "best fighter of WW1", but it's hard not to acknowledge them and add qualifiers. They were essentially like the super props of WW2, too late to really do anything, but surely would have been great had they had more time.

Whenever I talk about the SE5a, D.VII, SPAD XIII, I am always thinking of these planes in the back of my mind as well.

[SatelliteYL]

I love that picture of Rickenbacker in front of his SPAD so much. You just know he looked exactly the same in front of one of his race cars too haha.

[McRocket]

You've done it again, Ed.
I truly knew, absolutely nothing of this aircraft.
Thank you.
☮

[yakacm]

Just had a light bulb moment. My old man, god rest his soul, used to race bikes in the 50's, 60's and 70's, they used vegetable oil in their engines at that time, the oil was called Castrol R, and if anyone has ever been around bikes using this oil, the smell from the exhaust is wonderful. My light bulb moment was Cast part of Castrol, I guess must stand for caster, as in caster oil?

[Farweasel]

Ed, you never cease to amaze with obscure but superb now almost unknown aircraft.

[PeteSampson-quqb]

Hi, guys. I'm new to the site and really enjoy the content and comments. Here goes, in no particular order.

I have many hours in small full scale and all manner of RC model aircraft over 45 years and nothing is as treacherous as a WW1 fighter. I had a 60" span Fokker Triplane and, even with an insane amount of nose weight, it was a real beast. I never crashed it but couldn't relax and enjoy flying for a second. I have a 43" span Pfalz DIII that flies beautifully at scale speeds but is a beast to land. I also have a lot of time in a Champ and have flown less benign taildraggers including a Stearman with a 500hp Pratt. The owner didn't offer a landing, and I didn't ask, but the takeoffs were a bit demanding. Even with the amazing Siemens engine I can't imagine the torque and P-factor in a rotary powered crate with primitive aerodynamics.

It's always about the engine, almost. The SE.5 was almost written off before they got the Hispano sorted out and everyone knows about sticking a Merlin in the P-51 but I didn't hear a mention of the engines in the Fokker DVII. It was formidable with the Mercedes engine but with the high compression BMW added to its advanced airfoil it was a leap forward. Sometimes it's the airfoil and the airfoil used on the Siemens was revolutionary. The DVII and/or DIV would have made it very bad for SE.5s, Dolphins, and SPADs in 1919 unless one of them got new wings.

Cheers!

[johndavey]

Ed, As always, ýour knowledge of these first generation aircraft is humbling, informative ! 😅 l enjoy being made aware of these little known aircraft . Certainly the only four bladed Axis fighter l'm aware of . Thanks Ed

[youmaus]

Another feature of this craft was it's ability to turn in a radius not much bigger than it's wingspan just above stall speed.

[iemandnogwat]

The Fokker D.VII with the BMW IIIa powerplant climbs to 1000 meters in 1 minute and 40 seconds. The 4 minutes and 15 seconds belong to the version with the Mercedes D.III engine.

[SteveBrownRocks]

I’d like to see more videos on planes like the Halberstadt, the Pfalz, & this great-looking Siemens-Schuckert!

[ThatsGuitarist]

I must admit to having a fair amount of prior knowledge about this stubby-looking but fast and nimble aircraft due to having built kits of both the D-III and D-IV. Even so, I still found your video very informative and enjoyable, and I'm happy to report that I even learned some new things about it, like its very impressive service ceiling!

I have to say, though, that my favourite Central Powers aircraft still remains the venerable Albatros D-III. First entering service in December of 1916, it got almost everything right; fast, powerfully armed and almost wildly maneuverable, it offered the best possible combination of speed, climb, agility and twin-gun armament. It was so good that many Albatros D-III's soldiered on right up to the armistice.

Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your excellent videos.😁

[kellymouton]

Maybe I need glasses, but it definitely reminds me of the FW 190.

[klwnkiller]

I learned about this aircraft as a gamer many years ago in the board (later PC) game "Red Baron". As a model builder I really regret that Wingnut Wings declined to build a model of this aircraft as it would have been a fantastic model but they told me that since Roden already had a kit of it they were not going to do it (and have since gone out of business). Anyway, one interesting fact that I discovered from building the Roden kit is that Siemen-Schuckert used a special lacquer on their wooden fuselages that when dried had a reddish-purple color. It took me quite a while mixing paints to come up with a clear 'varnish' to replicate the color, although I could only use descriptions as no color pictures exist.

[alias]

This was great - thanks! WW1 fighters have been a favorite of mine for ages, and you have many photos that I have never seen before.
Lots of content could be had from WW1 planes . . . .
I suggest the Fokker DVIII and the Nieuport 28 as some of the lesser known fighters.

[MyMongo]

I saw this aircraft this morning at the Omaka aviation heritage centre, Blenheim, S. Island NZ. I'd never heard of it before. A great museum stacked full of WW1 aircraft courtesy of Peter Jackson. Thank you for the informative video. Love this channel!

[surferdess]

looks like a bee. insane design. thanks Ed. Great book by the way.

[NV..V]

Idflieg also had August Euler design Nieuport 11/17 clones for the Luftstreitkrafte known as the Euler D1 and DII.

[brom]

Apparently production of the SSW D4 continued for several months after the Armistice. They had orders for the machines, and on-one told them to stop!
SSW also designed a high-wing monoplane, which would have superceded the D3 and D4, which had a top speed near to 140mph.
The aircraft was difficult to land, because of its tall undercarriage, heavy engine, and short fuselage - it would turn over unless it was three-point landed. The first 3 allied pilots to try it did just that.
The surviving D3s, after being re-engined in the late spring/early summer 1918, were returned to combat with home-defence interceptor units, called Kests, where they were very successful.