Название: Albatros D.III: Johannisthal, OAW, and Oeffag variants
Автор: James F. Miller, Adam Tooby, Henry Morshead
Издательство: Osprey Publishing
Серия: Osprey Air Vanguard 13
ISBN: 978 1782003717
Год издания: 2014
Язык: English
Cтраниц: 66
Формат: True PDF
Размер: 2,5 MB
In 1916, Imperial German aerial domination, once held by rotary-engined Fokker and Pfalz E-type wing-warping monoplanes, had been lost to the more nimble French Nieuport and British DH 2s which not only out-flew the German fighters but were present in greater numbers. Born-from-experience calls from German fighter pilots requested that, rather than compete with the maneuverability of these adversaries, new single-engine machines should be equipped with higher horsepower engines and armed with two, rather than the then-standard single machine guns. The Robert Thelen-led Albatros design bureau set to work on what became the Albatros D.I and D.II and by April 1916 they had developed a sleek yet rugged machine that featured the usual Albatros semi-monocoque wooden construction and employed a 160hp Mercedes D.III engine with power enough to equip the aeroplane with two forward-firing machine guns. Visual hallmarks of the D.I and early production D.II include fuselage mounted Windhoff radiators and matching chords for the upper and lower wings.