what is it?
The Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland was an semi-cantilever monoplane trimotor airliner designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Rohrbach. It was capable of unrivalled performance in some categories; during its early years, the type held no less than 22 world records. The Roland, which performed its maiden flight in 1926, was promptly adopted by the German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa later that same year, using it on its route between Berlin and London via Hanover and Amsterdam.
How to recognise it: 3 piston engines with propellers · shoulder wing · 26 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 100 years ago, in 1926.
- Top speed is 1.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 26 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1926-08
- number built
- 18
- role
- airliner
- origin
- German Reich
- makers
- Rohrbach Metall-Flugzeugbau
- engines
- 3× BMW Va / BMW IV
- crew
- 3
- passengers
- 10
- length
- 16.4 m
- wingspan
- 26 m
- max take-off weight
- 7,400 kg
- top speed
- 204 km/h
- cruise speed
- 165 km/h
- range
- 875 km
- ceiling
- 4,200 m
- wings
- shoulder wing
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q827231, Wikipedia: Rohrbach Ro VIII Roland (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.