LFG V 59

The LFG V 59 and the LFG V 61 were single engine, twin float passenger seaplanes designed and built in Germany in 1926 by the Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft. They differed only in their engines.

Design and development

The V 59 and V 61 were both twin float seaplanes, essentially identical apart from their engines and designed to carry four or five passengers. The V 59 was powered by a 240 hp (179 kW) BMW IV 6-cylinder water cooled inline and the V 61 by a much more powerful, 400 hp (298 kW) Bristol Jupiter 9-cylinder radial. They were metal aircraft both in frame and covering, low wing monoplanes of the semi-cantilever kind with external bracing between the upper fuselage and wing and further support from below via the flat topped floats. The wings were straight tapered with rounded tips. The fuselage was flat sided and bottomed, with windows down the side and with a braced tailplane mounted on top of it. The rudder extended well below the keel.

Operational history

Both the V 59 and the V 61 were entered into the German Seaplane Competition, held between 12–23 July 1926 with flights along the Baltic and North Sea coasts from Warnemünde. The V 59 did not score in the technical tests but the V 61 came sixth in them whilst not completing the whole course.

LFG

LFG is an abbreviation for:

BFG (weapon)

The BFG is a fictional weapon found in many video game titles, mostly in first-person shooters such as the Doom and Quake video game series.

The abbreviation BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun" as described in Tom Hall's original Doom design document and in the user manual of Doom II: Hell on Earth. The Quake II manual says it stands for "Big, Uh, Freakin' Gun". Another expurgated version of the name used in the Doom motion picture is "Bio Force Gun". The versions found in the Doom games are called "BFG 9000" and those in Quake "BFG 10K". In mods, various other versions made by fans can be found.

Appearances

The first appearance of the weapon is the press beta release of Doom. In that version, the BFG 9000 released a cloud of 80 little plasma balls (randomly green or red) per shot.

In the first commercial Doom game, the BFG 9000 is a large energy weapon that fires giant balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the game, it causes major damage to opponents and can clear an entire room of foes in one use. A direct hit from it is often an instant kill. The player is unaffected by the splash damage, which makes it possible to use the BFG 9000 safely in close quarters, unlike some of the other powerful weapons. In the first Doom the weapon can only be picked up in the third and fourth episodes. The BFG 9000 also appears virtually unchanged in Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom, Doom 64, and Doom RPG.

LFG V 40

The LFG V 40 and V 44 were one-off, single-engine, two-seat sports monoplanes, identical apart from their engines, built in Germany in 1925.

Design and development

The V 40 and V 44 were all-metal high-wing monoplanes, with thick, straight-edged, cantilever wings. Highly stressed members were steel, with duralumin elsewhere including the skin. The fuselages were deep-bellied and flat-sided with tandem open cockpits over the wing. On both aircraft, the pilot sat near the quarter chord position, with a slot in the fuselage below the wing to enhance his downward view, and the passenger was placed within a cut-out in the trailing edge. The tailplane was on top of the fuselage and the rounded vertical tail included a balanced rudder which extended down to the keel. The conventional undercarriage was fixed, with mainwheels on a single axle mounted on short V-struts and assisted by a tailskid.

The V 40 and V 44 airframes were identical, but the V 40 was powered by a 75 hp (56 kW) Siemens-Halske Sh 11 7-cylinder radial and the V 44 by a 100 hp (75 kW) Bristol Lucifer 3-cylinder radial. Both were nose-mounted, uncowled, and drove two-blade propellers. External dimensions, apart from the exact length, were the same, and the weights were also similar.