The Hansa-Brandenburg W.29, which this seems to be a copy of, was developed at the end of 1917 by Ernst Heinkel. The first batch, Nos. 2201-2206, had 195hp Benz engines. The second batch, Nos. 2287-2300, 2501-2536 and 2564-2583, had 150hp Benz engines, and the final batch, Nos. 2584-2589, had 185hp Benz engines. An enlarged and more powerful version of the W.29, the W.33, was ordered in April 1918; it had a 260hp Mercedes engine. At least one of the W.33 aircraft was produced with a 20mm Becker cannon in the rear gunner's position.A still larger version, the W.34, with a 300hp Fiat engine, was produced too late to see combat, but some were purchased by the Finnish and Latvian Air Forces after the war.
The first combat for the W.29 took place on July 4, 1918. Four planes under the leadership of Oberleutnant Friedrich Christiansen intercepted and attacked three Felixstowe flying boats. They shot down all three of the British flying boats without a loss. On July 6 1918, Christiansen lead a flight of five W.29s which located and damaged the British submarine C 25. On July 31, 1918 Christiansen downed another Curtiss flying boat.
