Avionics - German Askania Lz 12 autopilot

[Funksammler]

Something new for the WW2 technophiles....

After a long break, I finally managed to complete a description of the German Lz 12 "Kurssteuerung" produced by Askania. This was one of the earliest of the autopilot systems adopted by the Luftwaffe and saw action during the Spanish civil war. The Lz 12 is a largely pneumatic system and was superceded by more modern systems like the K4ü by the outbreak of ww2. It did however remain in service in some older aircraft until the end of ww2.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bcgxkhkly9...pilot.pdf?dl=0

I will probably bundle the various autopilot descriptions into a single book about the German autopilots, a few more rainy days required.....

regards,

Funksammler

[Etienne B.]

Great info..........Thanks for sharing.This took a lot of time

regards,

Etienne

[rv12p2000]

Hello Funksammler

Many thank for this beautiful document
The first autopilot using during WW1 are built by sperry

Regards Rv12p2000

[roger_m]

Nice document, thanks for publishing it. I would only like to add that the Pneumatical Askania Kurssteuerung was used on most pre-war long range multiengined a/c, not only the He 111 or the Do17. The FW200, He 116, Ju 86, Ju 90 as well as the Do26, Do18 and Do24 floatplanes were also equipped. Even some Ju52 versions carried it.

[rv12p2000]

Hello funksammler

You wrote several papers on the autopilot very well documented and interesting
Do you have the intention of bringing them together in a single document? as you have already done for german telecom equipement

Regards
Rv12P2000

[Funksammler]

Indeed there were more aircraft types that used the Askania autopilots, although not all used the Lz 12. The Fw 200, Ju 52 and Do 26 from the DLH used the Lztz 14, which was a significantly different installation. The Lztz 14 used hydraulic rather than pneumatic servos. The Lztz 14 a and c versions were specifically developed for the Luftwaffe so that they could be used with the Patin remote compass system and use a "Kursmotor" to adjust the setpoint. With these modifications, the Lztz 14a was used in the Fw 200 of the Luftwaffe. Very few Lztz 14's were built (only about 200 of all variations) so operational use in the Luftwaffe was relatively infrequent.

Obviously primairy sources (Luftwaffe drawings, aircraft manuals, factory records etc.) detailing the use of these autopilots are hard to come by, so it can not easily be confirmed which aircraft used exactly which type of autopilot. At least RLM documentation exists linking the Lz 12 to the He 111 and Do 17 (contradicting the statement by Kracheel in his book that the Lz 12 was not used operationally).

I will probably bundle the various chapters into a single book, hopefully I will find the time and inspiration this winter!

regards,

Funksammler

[Erich B.]

Outstanding work! Thanks for sharing it.
Erich