Wingnut Wings 1/32 Jeannin Stahltaube (1914)
by PeteR BarkerT
he original Taube, designed
by Austrian Igo Etrich,
was based on the shape of
the seed of the Javan cucumber,
noteworthy for its stable gliding
characteristics (as described by
Professor Friedrich Ahlborn in
a research paper published in
Germany in 1897). The Taube
first flew in April 1910 and proved
to be a most docile aircraft,
one which novices could fly in
relative safety. Edmund Rumpler
was so impressed by the Taube
that he negotiated a five-year
exclusive licence to build them
in Germany, and in October 1910
the Prussian military placed an
order with him for five aircraft.
Unfortunately, becauseAhlborn’s paper was in the
public domain, Etrich’s patent
application for his design was
rejected in September 1911. This
essentially made Etrich’s design
public property in Germany, so that
anyone could legally build and sell
their own version of the Taube,
and companies like Albatros,
Caspa r, DF W, Eu ler, G oede cker,
Rahtjen, Gotha, Roland, Kondor,
Halberstadt, and Jeannin did just
that. Etrich’s legal battles with the
copycats lasted for some time; the
last, with Rumpler, until 1930.
Emil Jeannin’s variant
was the Jeannin Stahltaube
1914 Military Type.
Jeannin Taubes featured
a steel-tube framed fuselage andFOLLY
E t r i ch’s
6 • MARCH 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
BY SACCO DE VRIES
JEANNIN STAHLTAUBE
BY PETER BARKER
1/006-13-FEAT-Taube-0318.indd 6 09/02/2018 14: