Albatross D.III

The Albatros D.III is a German single-seater of hunting of the First World War.

Origin

On instruction of the Idflieg engineers Robert Thielen and Schubert adapted the cell of a hunter Nieuport on the fuselage of a Albatros D.II. The lower wing thus became monolongeron with a cord appreciably weaker than that of the higher plan, which improved the visibility of the pilot clearly, and the wing gap was held by a pair of chechmates out of V. With a six-cylinder motor in line Mercedes whose compression ratio had been increased to reach 180 ch, a flat radiator integrated from now on in the higher plan and two machine-guns of cap LMG 08/15 of 7,92 mm, the prototype L.20 (Designation manufacturer) stole in August 1916, first of a series of 12 ordered single-seaters previous in June. In October following Albatros received an order for 400 specimens.

In service

: Brought into service from at the end of December 1916 by Luftstreitkräfte, D III remains certainly the hunter more successful built by Albatros, with performances and a handiness higher than those of the Albatros D.II. Spring 1917 all Jasta (Jasta 1,2,4,5,6,24,25,26,27,28,29) are equipped with D.II or April D.III and, particularly testing for Alliée aviation, remained in the memories like “bloody April”. The D.III presented in fact two defects: the radiator Teeves & Braun placed in the center of the higher plan had tendency to scalper the pilot if it were touched by unfavourable balls. This problem was regulated by moving the radiator on the right starting from the 290e cell. More serious, the lower plan was fragile and tended to break in vol. a mishap which affected as of on January 24th, 1917 the very new DIII of Manfred von Richthofen. The German ace managed to be posed but during the 5 weeks which followed von Richthofen used again its Albatros D.II.

In March 1917 the D.III were prohibited of flight, Albatros D.II and Halberstadt D.II thus taking again service within Jasta. After reinforcement of the lower wing, the hunters were given in service, without for all this the problem is solved and one questioned within the Idflieg the quality of the factory workers of Johannisthal, then that of materials used. One ends up realizing that the member was located too back, from where a tendency of the wing to bore under the aerodynamic constraints. One thus asked the pilots not to carry out piqués too accentuated or prolonged… a problem which was never solved, in spite of many tests, neither on the D.III nor on his successor D.V. Although a little heavy with the orders, the D.III was however a plane easy to control, with a climbing speed, a handiness and a visibility to the bottom definitely higher than the D.II and it was the mounting of all the German aces: Ernst Udet, Erich Löwenhardt, Kurt Wolf, Karl Emil Schaeffer… Hermann Goering.

Approximately 500 D.III left the workshops of Johannisthal before the first D.V during the summer 1917 do not appear. Five orders had also placed near Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW) between April and August 1917 and produced between June and December. The built single-seaters with Schneidemühl are recognized with a larger and rounder rudder. One counted 445 Albatross D.III with the face in November 1917, 54 on the western face on August 31st, 1918.

It should be noted that in January 1918 an Albatross D.III was fixed under the airship L 35 (Zeppelin LZ 80) of Kriegsmarine for tests of protection of the airships by means of a parasitic hunter.

: At the end of 1916 Oesterreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG (Oeffag) obtained a license of production and the construction of the D.III was also launched to Wiener-Neustadt, the deliveries in K.u.K. Luftfahrttruppen Austro-Hungarians beginning in May 1917. They will equip between-others Flik 2D, 6F, 41J, 42J, 48D, 48J, 51J, 55J, 61J, and Kampfstaffel Galanesti.

Lieutenant Linke-Crawford and Brumowski in great discussion in front of the Albatross (Oeffag) controlled by Brumowski, whereas Flik 41J stations in Portobuffole, Italy, in June 1918. Godwin Brumowski is the best ace Austro-Hungarian with 35 victories.

Some 526 apparatuses left the Austrian factories until the Armistice, been driven gradually by more powerful Austro-Daimler engines: 185, then 200 and finally 225 ch . Les Austro-Hungarian apparatuses are characterized by a more important hooding from the engine (sometimes withdrawn the summer to improve cooling) and modifications from structure of the lower plan (thicker veins, reinforcement of the member) which improved considerably solidity of this one. From before fuselage was also modified, taking a round form which made it possible to remove the spinner… and saved 14,5 km/h. The large defect of the D.III built by Oeffag was their armament. The Schwarzlose machine-guns of 8 mm had a rate of shooting weaker than the LMG 08/15et a defective mechanism of synchronization. Golds they étéient placed in the fuselage, out of reach pilot. On the engine apparatuses of 225 ch, delivered as from May 1918, they were thus repositioned with the top of the front cap.

Poland: After the armistice the Poland bought 60 D III (38 apparatuses of 225 ch built by Oeffag and 22 machines built by OAW), of which some were controlled by the American volunteers of 7th Eskadra Kosciuszkowska during the conflict Russo-Polish into 1919/20.
Russia: The White Armée used D.III
: Use D.III between 1918 and 1920.
: Very new Czechoslovakian aviation also used after the First World War of the apparatuses built by Oeffag.

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