Country of origin:

Germany

Description:

Single-seat biplane fighter scout

Power Plant:

One 134 kw (180 hp) or 149 kw (200 hp) Mercedes D-III six-cylinder liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

• Wingspan [upper]: 9 m (29 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan [lower]: 8.73 m (28 ft 8 in)
• Length: 7.33 m (24 ft 0⅝ in)
• Height: 2.7 m (8 ft 10¼ in)
• Wing area: 20.5 m² (220 sq ft)
• Max speed: 186 km/h (116 mph)
• Time to 305 m (1,000 ft): 4.4 mins
• Time to 3,000 m (9,843 ft): 14.5 mins
• Time to 5,000 m (16,404 ft): 35 mins
• Service ceiling: 5,700 m (18,700 ft)
• Endurance: 2 hours
• Empty weight: 717 kg (1,580 lb)
• Useful load: 220 kg (485 lb)
• Loaded weight: 937 kg (2,061 lb)

Armament:

Two 7.92 mm (0.31 in) LMG 08/51 machine guns fixed firing forward

History:

The Albatros series of fighters was produced in Germany for operations in World War I and was reasonably successful in its design role. The D.I, D.II and D.III were all put into production but the D.IV failed to reach this status. To combat the de Havilland (Airco) DH.2 and Nieuport II, Albatros-Werke built a prototype of the D.I in August 1916 with two 7.92 mm (0.31 in) Spandau machine guns, fitted with a 119 kw (160 hp) Mercedes D.III engine. It was supplied to Jastas in September 1916, and saw service at the Western Front but was soon replaced by the D.II. Improvements were made to increase the view of the pilot and the side-mounted radiators were replaced by wing radiators. Production was by Albatros and LVG, but 20 were built for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service by Oeffag with the 138 kw (185 hp) Austro-Daimler engine.

The D.III was considered the most effective of the Albatros fighters and it entered service in January 1917. In a matter of months 37 Jastas had been equipped with Albatros fighters of various models. The peak number of D.IIIs at the Front was 146 in November 1917. This model also operated in German service in Palestine and Macedonia. Boelcke, Udet, Voss and Von Richthofen are known to have flown this type on operations. It had a two-spar upper wing and the fuselage structure had six longerons, oval former frames and a plywood skin.

The D.V was one of the most successful developments of the series, being fitted with the then-new 134 kw (180 hp) Mercedes six-cylinder engine. It looked much like the D.III but had a new oval-shaped fuselage, a fully-rounded rudder, and a head-rest for the pilot at the rear of the cockpit. It entered service in May 1917 and was followed a month later by the improved D.Va. The only difference between the two models was that the earlier aircraft had the aileron control wires running along the upper-wing, and the later D.Va along the lower wing.

The Albatros technically was an outstanding design and offered superior speed and flying qualities to anything available to the German forces at the time. The first examples reached the Front in September 1916 and equipped Jasta 2 led by Kapitan Oswald Boelcke, who led the first ‘circus’ against the Allied lines on 17 September. By the time it was starting to make a name for itself the D.III was in production, the lower wings being kept narrow to improve the field of vision, and having a single spar. This model was well received on the Western Front in 1917 but, following the introduction of the Spad, the Sopwith Camel and the RAF SE.5 into service by the Allies, it lost its superiority.

By June 1917 the D.V and D.Va had reached the front and these models were built by Albatros-Werke at Johannistal and by Osdeutsche Albatros-Werke at Schneidemuehl until early 1918. By May 1918 the Albatros was obsolete, one pilot writing “The SPADs usually fly and manoeuvre at about 6,096 m (20,000 ft), with our Albatros we can only just reach 5,029 m (16,500 ft)”.

Initially the D.V and D.Va became unpopular with crews as the wings could be torn away after a prolonged dive. It was eventually found that this fault was due to the position of the spar too far to the rear, this causing a vibration which over-stressed the wing. Efforts were made to solve the problem by the addition of a bracing cable but this was never really successful. Further, the pilots were told not to dive their aircraft too steeply. The consequent restriction in the ability to handle the aircraft produced some adverse comments. However, the type was produced in large numbers and remained in service until the end of World War I.

By May 1918 more than 1,000 were in service at the front line. At one time the legendary Baron Manfred von Richthofen flew a bright red D.V, and was shot down in serial D1177/17 on 6 July 1917. He then changed to another D.V, also bright red (serial 4693/17), and flew this during the Battle of Cambria. Examples of the D.V were flown by Von Schleich, known as the ‘Black Knight’, his aircraft being overall black; and Hermann Goering, who flew a D.V with a black fuselage with the nose and tail painted white. Further development of the series progressed to the D.VII built in August 1917, and the D.IX, D.X and D.XI, but they were not produced in any numbers.

An Albatros D.Va is held in the collection of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, ACT. This machine (serial D5390/17) was shot down by Lieutenant J L Sandey and Sergeant H F Hughes in an RAF RE.8 on 17 December 1917, landing behind Australian lines near Armentieres in France. The crew was taken prisoner by members of the 21st Battalion of the 2nd Australian Division. The aircraft was salvaged, claimed as a War Trophy by No 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, and taken to St Omer, also in  France. It was eventually shipped to Australia and placed on display at Prince Alfred Park in Sydney, NSW. After being in storage for many years, in June 1966 it was conveyed to the Camden Museum of Aviation, NSW and refurbished.

There is an Australian connection with other D.Vs. Serial D5359/17 was captured by Australian troops and was conveyed to No 2 Aircraft Salvage Depot for eventual transportation to Australia as a War Trophy. This did not happen and it seems it was broken up. Serial 7416/17 was forced to land at Jenin in Palestine, was captured by Australian troops and was taken to No 2 ASD also. It seems it also did not make its way to Australia.

In 2000 an Albatros D.III replica built in the United Kingdom for the film ‘The Blue Max’ was imported to Omaka, New Zealand and restored to airworthiness, joining a collection of replica World War I aircraft. In Vienna, Austria two replica D.IIIs have been built. An airworthy replica D.Va was built in Idaho, USA (N986RS) and is part of the Replica Fighter Museum in Alabama, USA.

In later years scale replicas of World War I fighters have become popular, and in New Zealand an ultralight replica, a kit produced by Airdrome Aeroplanes, has been registered as ZK-DVR (c/n TG01) to its owner/builder in Dunedin.

A full scale reproduction of a D.Va-1 became ZK-DVA (c/n 8258) to The Vintage Aviator Limited of Wellington; and in late 2010 the company completed another replica D.Va, this becoming ZK-TBB (c/n 1267), the aircraft having been constructed for American museum owner, Kermit Weeks, to become part of his collection at the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City in Florida. It was displayed at the 2011 Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka at Easter before being exported.

Further D.Va-1 reproductions have been completed, one in late 2011 by The Vintage Aviator Limited becoming ZK-TVD (c/n 0083) on 30 November and being painted as D.7343/17. It was flown at aviation events until it was exported to the United Kingdom in mid-2012 where it became part of the collection of World War I aircraft at the RAF Museum at Hendon in Greater London.

A fourth example, a D.Va-1, became ZK-TVE (c/n 0084) to TVAL on 20 September 2012; and in February 2015 a further D.Va-1 became ZK-TGY (c/n 087). Yet another D.Va-1 reproduction was completed by TVAL in late 2017, this aircraft being registered as ZK-ALB (c/n 147) to TVAL at Masterton.

ZK-TGY was finished in the colour scheme of the aircraft flown by Paul Baumer of Luftstreit Krafte Jagdstaffel 5 in World War I. On 15 September 2015 ZK-TGY, the reproduction, whilst flying near Ashford, Kent in the United Kingdom, suffered an engine problem and made a forced landing into a paddock near Bethersden, the aircraft flipping over striking a fence. Substantial damage was occasioned to both wings, the airframe and the propeller. The aircraft was returning to Headcorn Airport in Kent after participating in a flypast at World War I Battle of the Somme commemorations held at Longueval in France. The aircraft was subsequently dismantled and shipped to New Zealand for a rebuild.

Other replicas have been built, including G-BFXL (ex D-EGKQ, D-5397, 17) in 1982, which is airworthy in the United Kingdom; and N12156 which has flown with the collection of World War I aircraft in the Old Rhinebeck collection in New York.

Another full-scale replica of an Albatros D.V has been built by Mr Christopher Shepherd on the New South Wales Central Coast, this aircraft being of all-wood construction with the exception of the undercarriage and some fittings.

Two Albatros D.Va reproductions have been built by The Memorial Flight workshop at Dugny in France, these being airframes sourced from TVAL in Wellington, New Zealand, the aircraft being completed in 2017 and becoming F-AZUA and F-AZUB. By 2019 TVAL had completed more than 40 reproduction aircraft as well as restoring ten World War I original aircraft to fly.