TheHansa-Brandenburg W.23 was aprototypebiplaneflying-boat fighter designed by theHansa-Brandenburg Aircraft Company (Hansa Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke) for theImperial German Navy's (Kaiserliche Marine) Naval Air Service (Marine-Fliegerabteilung) duringWorld War I. Three aircraft were ordered in 1917 and delivered the following year, but it was not ordered into production.

The W.23 was the culmination of the company's line ofpusher configuration flying-boatbiplane fighters reaching back to 1916'sCC, all of which had aswept lower wing, wingfloats, and a single-stephull to allow the aircraft to break free from the water more easily. It greatly resembled the precedingW.18, but its hull was longer and it had a water-cooled 160-metric-horsepower (118 kW)Mercedes D.IIIstraight-six engine that drove a two-bladed, fixed-pitchpropeller. The aircraft's armament consisted of a 7.92-millimeter (0.312 in)LMG 08/15 and a20-millimeter (0.79 in) Beckerautocannon, both mounted in the upper deck of the nose.^[1][2]

Three prototypes were ordered in June 1917 and were delivered to the Seaplane Experimental Command (Seeflugzeug-Versuchs-Kommando) in June 1918.^[3] Details are scanty, but aviation historians William Green and Gordon Swanborough state that the W.23's flight characteristics were so poor that the program was cancelled.^[4] Two aircraft were located atSeddin when theAllies inspected the German seaplane bases in December 1918. Their ultimate fate is unknown, but it is likely that they werescrapped.^[5]

Data from Hansa-Brandenburg Aircraft of WWI: Volume 2–Biplane Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series^[6]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 9.13 m (29 ft 11 in) overall
• Upper wingspan: 10.7 m (35 ft 1 in)
• Lower wingspan: 10.24 m (33 ft 7 in)
• Height: 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
• Wing area: 34.7 m² (374 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 918 kg (2,024 lb)
• Gross weight: 1,261 kg (2,780 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 ×Mercedes D.III water-cooledstraight-six engine, 120 kW (160 hp)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 165 km/h (103 mph, 89 kn)
• Service ceiling: 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
• Time to altitude:
  

• 800 m (2,600 ft) in 6 minutes
• 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 7 minutes
• 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in 12 minutes
• 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 18 minutes 12 seconds
• 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 38 minutes 18 seconds

Armament

• Guns: *1 × fixed, forward-firing 7.92 mm (0.312 in)LMG 08/15 machine gun
• 1 ×20 mm (0.8 in) Beckerautocannon

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of Germany
• List of flying boats and floatplanes

• Andersson, Lennart & Sanger, Ray (2014).Retribution and Recovery: German Aircraft and Aviation 1919 to 1922. Air-Britain (Historians).ISBN 978-0-85130-467-0.
• Green, William & Swanborough, Gordon (2001) [1994].The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Built and Flown (Revised and Updated ed.). Salamander Books.ISBN 1-84065-269-1.
• Owers, Colin A. (2015).Hansa-Brandenburg Aircraft of WWI: Volume 2–Biplane Seaplanes. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. Vol. 18. n.p.: Aeronaut Books.ISBN 978-1-935881-32-2.

• Hansa-Brandenburg aircraft
• 1910s German fighter aircraft
• Flying boats
• Biplanes
• Single-engined pusher aircraft
• Aircraft first flown in 1917

• Articles containing German-language text