H.Nowarra, G.Duval Russian Civil and Military Aircraft 1884-1969

At this time, the shadows of impending war were spreading over Europe, manifest in the undercurrents of political unrest which were sensed in Russia as elsewhere. The Moller I aircraft was an attempt at preparation, and although not an official project, was the first Russian design for which a machine gun armament formed part of the specification. It was similar to the Dux II in that it was a shoulder-wing monoplane with a pusher engine, and the designer, F. E. Moska, had placed the crew of two higher in the fuselage than in the earlier machine, so that they sat over the wing. The power unit was a 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape and the machine was armed with a Maxim machine gun installed in the nose. The Moller I took part in the 1913 trials sponsored by the War Ministry, but it would seem that its performance did not give satisfaction, for Moska almost immediately entered a second machine for the same trials. This was the Moller II pusher biplane, powered by an engine similar to that of its predecessor.

A.Durkota, T.Darcey, V.Kulikov The Imperial Russian Air Service (Flying Machines)

Meller I

  The Meller no.I was named after the company's owner and designed by F.E. Moska. It was made from parts of several of the French aircraft being manufactured at the Dux plant.
  The machine was a parasol monoplane, pusher-driven by a 100hp Gnome engine. The wing was taken from a Nieuport IV, as was the undercarriage. The nacelle was from a Farman XV and the horizontal section of the tail was from a Farman XVI. A steel tube framework was used to connect the components of the aircraft, but its structure was too complex in its attempt to avoid the propeller. The plane did not have any exceptional qualities and only one was produced.


Dux-Built Aircraft Data
Specification Meller I Meller II Meller III Dux No.2 Dux Military Bleriot XIbis Bleriot XI Dux Farman IV Farman VII Farman IX
Year Built 1913 1913 1913 1913 1915 1910 1912 1910 1911 1911
Max. Speed, km/h - - - - - 95 90 65 86 90
Landing Spd, km/h - - - - - - - 60 60 60
Engines, number 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
type G-M G-M Salmson Gnome G-M Gnome Gnome Gnome Gnome Gnome
Power, hp 100 100 80 80 100 50 50 50 50 70
Length, m 9.4 8.1 10.5 7.6 7.6 775 7.2 12.5 9.0 8.0
Span, m (U/L) 12.1 13.7 12.4 12.3 11.2 8.9 8.9 10.5 12.0/7.0 12.0/7.0
Wing Area, m2 22.5 35.0 30.0 22.5 18.0 14.5 20.9 41.0 31.0 28.0
Empty Wt., kg 440 460 - - 420 240 295 400 345 260
Fuel Wt., kg 95 100 - - 130 - 30 75 75
Oil Wt., kg 25 total - - total total 35 total total total
Payload, kg 280 250 - - 280 130 145 180 255 225
Gross Wt., kg 720 710 700 370 440 580 600 485
Wing Load, kg/m2 320 20.3 - - 39.0 25.0 21.0 14.0 19.4 17.3
Power, kg/hp 7.2 7.1 - - 7.0 7.4 8.8 11.6 12.0 7.0