Armstrong Whitworth Ara

The Armstron Whitworth Ara was a British biplane Fighter designed in the closing stages of the World War I.

In early 1918 the British Air Ministry issued an specification for a fighter capable of replacing the Sopwith Snipe and it had to be powered by the 320hp ABC Dragonfly radial engine which was very promising before even any field testing was carried out. In order to meet this specification, Fred Murphy, the head designer of Armstrong Whitworth designed this fighter, with three prototypes being ordered.

It was a two-bay biplane with an square fuselage and the engine covered in a pointed cowling but with the cylinder heads exposed. Upper wing was placed low on purpose in order to give the pilot a better upwards field of view.

Just like the other candidates to replace the Snipe, the Dragonfly engine prooved to be very disappointing when the first prototype was tested in early 1919. However a second prototype was completed and flown before late 1919. It was abandoned towards the end of the year and Armstrong Whitworth's aircraft department closed down.

It was going to be armed with a pair of Vickers 0.303 (7.7mm) Machine guns.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_Ara
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Armstrong Whitworth F.K.6

The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.5 and F.K.6 were experimental intended to serve as escort fighters built by Armstrong Whitworth during the First World War.

Early in 1916 the British war office drew up an specification for a multi-seat escort fighter to be powered by the new Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. It had to have at least 7 endurance hours and it had to protect the bomber formations from German fighters such as the Fokker E.I and it had to be capable also of destroying enemy airships. The orders for prototypes were placed from Armstrong Whitworth, Sopwith and Vickers, and all of them presented unorthodox designs given the need to give the gunners a good field of fire, specially considering the lack of syncronisation gear.

Frederick Koolhoven originally designed the F.K.5 as a tractor triplane with the middle wing having much greater span than the upper and lower ones. Gunners were mounted in nacelles placed on top of the middle wing making them to sit ahead of the propeller blade and the pilot cockpit placed behind the wings having that way a poor view. Undercarriage consisted in a sprung stut with two main wheels under the engine with two stabilishing ones at the wingtips of the lower wings with a tail slid aft of the trailing edge of the lower wing. This design never flew because the head of Armstrong Whitworth aircraft department, had forbidden the test flights.

However, Koolhoven radically redesigned the F.K.5 in order to design the F.K.6. It still was a triplane with the middle wing having much greater span than the upper and lower ones. Gunner nacelles were slung under the middle wing and were significally shorter so the gunners sat behind and outboard the propeller. Fuselage was also deeper than the F.K.5 one, giving that way an slighlty better view from the cockpit and the undercarriage had two pair of wheels with a narrow track under the fuselage and a more conventional tail skid.
It was powered by a 250hp Rolls-Royce 12-cylinder water-cooled engine and would have carried two 0.303in Vickers machine guns, one in each nacelle.

Four airplanes were ordered in April 1916, two of which were to enter service with the Royal Naval Air Service, but only one was built as it demonstrated poor performance after flight tests. As effective synchronisation gears were already available by then, this type of airplane was abandoned and none of them were brought into production.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_F.K.6
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.

Albatros D.XII

Here we go again, this time with the last Albatros fighter designed in the first World War.

The Albatros D.XII was a German single-seat fighter prototype that was flown for the first time in March 1918.

As we said, it was the last Albatros fighter that was completed and flown before the end of the Great War and shared the same slab-sided fuselage of its' predecessor, the Albatros D.X.

Two prototypes were built, the first onem completed in March 1918 was powered by a 180hp Mercedes D.IIIa engine and featured balanced parallel-chord ailerons, whilst the second one, completed just one month later, in April 1918 featured unbalanced inversely tapered ailerons and some relatively new feature in the undercarriage: pneumatic shock absorbers. This second prototype, was, at first, powered by the previous Mercedes D.IIIa engine but later was refitted with the 185hp BMW. IIIa in order to take part in the Adlershof Type-D contest held in October 1918. Due to the armistice, no further development was carried-out.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.XII
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Albatros Dr.II

New day, new entry. In this case we deal with a triplane.

The Albatros Dr.II was a German single-seat triplane fighter prototype developed during the very late stages of the World War I.

The Dr.II was a triplane variant of the previous Albatros D.X which, in fact was powered by the same engine, the 195hp Benz Bz.IIIbo engine and was armed by the usual pair of 7,92mm LMG08/16 machine-guns.

Regarding the design, all three wings had ailerons and these were of parallel chord, heavily staggered and were braced by broad I-struts.

The prototype was flown during the spring 1918 and, given that the parent airplane, the Albatros D.X, was discontinued due to the failure at winning the D-Type contest, this one was also discontinued.


Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_Dr.II
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Albatros D.X

We keep going with another of Albatros prototype.

The Albatros D.X was a German single-seat fighter prototype that was developed in 1918 in parallel to the Albatros D.IX. In fact, it used the same slab-sided flat-bottomed fuselage as the later one, albeit slightly modified.

It was powered by a 195hp Benz Bz.IIIbo water-cooled V8 engine which proved to be better than the previous Mercedes D.IIIa straight-six installed in the D.IX.
It was armed with the usual pair of 7,92mm LMG 08/16 forward-firing machine-guns.

It took part in the D-Type contest held at Adlershof, in June 1918 but the development ceased after that event.
A pity, because of all the Albatros late fighter prototypes, this one seems to have been the most successful one.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.X
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Albatros D.IX

This post comes later than usual.

The Albatros D.IX was a German fighter prototype built in early 1918. It was the first Albatros design to feature a slab-sided flat-bottmed fuselage and both the wings and the tail surfaces were identical to those of the Albatros D.VII.

It was powered by the 180hp Daimler D.IIIa engine and was armed with the usual pair of 7,92mm LMG08/15 machine-guns.

The only prototype was flown in early 1918 and the performance was found to be very dissappointing. Further development was discontinued.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.IX
2. Salamander Books - The complete book of fighters

Albatros D.VII

We keep posting Albatros airplanes.

The Albatros D.VII was a German biplane prototype fighter that flown for the first time in August 1917.

It was powered by a 195hp eight-cylinder water-cooled Benz Bz.IIIb Vee engine and was armed with the usual German pair of 7.92mm machine-guns.

It had ailerons on both upper and lower wings and it had were linked by hinged struts.

When tested, the performance was considered insufficient and further development was cancelled.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.VII
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Albatros Dr.I

New week, new airplane.

The Albatros Dr.I was a triplane variant of the Albatros D.V and identical to that other one in many aspects.
It featured three pairs of wings and was flown for the first time in the summer of 1917 and was flown side by side with an Albatros D.V in order to compare it.

It was also powered by a Mercedes D.IIIa and, given that the advantage, compared to the D.V wasn't significant or, even discernible the development was abandoned and it never went beyond the prototype stage. It was armed with the usual pair of 7,92mm LMG 08 machine-guns which was very present in many German airplanes.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_Dr.I
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Albatros D.VI

This is another special post because it isn't accompanied by any pic as there isn't any photo of this airplane and much less blueprints or line drawings. A true pity because, according to the text descriptions, it seemed it was (or, as some sources claim it was never completed) a very interesting design.

Apparently and according both to the Complete book of fighters and wikipedia (which uses the first as source), the D.VI was a twin boom single-seat pusher fighter which was powered by a 180hp Daimler D.IIIa engine built in August 1917 but, due to the lack of a suitable radiator, it wasn't until February 1918 that was completed and when the prototype was flown for the first time.

It seems that it was armed with a single 7.92mm LMG 08/15 machine gun and, maybe the most interesting feature together with the pusher configuration, it was armed with a 20mm Becker Type M2 cannon.

It seems that, when the prototype was tested, the undercarriage was seriously damaged on landing and the project was abandoned, but in September 1918 Albatros proposed to the Idflieg to reactivate the project named as the "special cannon fighter".
Taking into account the characteristics of the fighter, like the pusher configuration, the single machine-gun and the installation of the cannon, we think it's safe to assume that it was going to be a multi-role ground-attack airplane with aerial defence capabilities, probably inspired by other successful identical airplanes like the Halberstadt CL.II. But then, why the Idflieg assigned the D letter, assigned to pure fighters without dedicated ground-attack capabilities and didn't assign the CL letters reserved for those fighter-sized airplanes with dedicated ground-attack equipment?

Considering that there aren't no known photos, there isn't any scale or line drawings so we couldn't draw it.

The technical data for this airplane is as follows:

• Crew: 1
• Length: 7.75m
• Wingspan: 9.8m
• Empty weight: 638Kg.
• Gross weight: 880Kg.
• Powerplant: 1x 180hp Daimler D.IIIa engine
• Armament: 1x fixed 20mm Becker type M2 Cannon plus 1x fixed 7.92mm LMG 08/15

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.VI
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Windsock Datafiles Specials - Albatros Experimentals - Forgotten Fighters 1

Albatros D.V - German users, part five

And with this post we finish the series of posts dedicated to this German fighter.

The D.V entered service in May 1917 and, just like it's predecessor, it suffered from structural malfunctions specially in the lower wing. In fact, accounts from the pilots suggest that it was more prone to failing than the D.III. Same thing happened with the outboard sections of the upper wings, which was solved by adding more wire bracing.

Besides, the performance offered by the D.V was very small in comparisson with the one offered by the D.III, which caused dismay in the German pilots, making them reluctant to fly these one and sticking to their old D.III.

In fact, the famous German Top Ace, Manfred von Richtofen loathed the new aircraft by stating in a letter that this new aircraft was "so obsolete and so ridiculously inferior the the English that one can't do anything with this aircraft". When the British captured a D.V, the flying tests showed it to be slow to maneouver, heavy to control and tiring to fly.

In order to improve the design and cope with those significant problems and bad reputation, Albatros designed the D.Va which had a reinforced fuselage, heavier wing ribs and stronger wing spars and was powered by a high-compression version of the Mercedes D.IIIa engine. Because of that, the D.Va was significantly heavier than the D.III and still didn't solve completely the structural problems of the model.
It used the same wing configuration of the D.III up to the point that they were interchangeable.

The idflieg ordered the production of 262 D.Va in August 1917 which was followed by additional 250 in September and 550 in October. Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (East-German Albatros Works) which had been producing D.III until then, received an order to produce 600 D.Va airplanes in October of the same year.

It was started to be supplied in October 1917 and, due to the initial structural problems of the Fokker Dr.I and considering that the Pfalz D.III didn't perform as well as expected the Luftstreitkräfte had not real alternative to the D.Va, until mid-1918 when the Fokker D.VII entered into service. Its production stopped in April 1918 and, in May 1918 131 D.V and 928 D.Va airplanes were in service in the Western Front. Those numbers were reduced as the D.V and the D.Va were being gradually replaced by the much better Fokker D.VII and some other ones, but it remained in active service until the end of the war.

The Jastas (Squadrons) covered in this post are:

• Jasta 76b
• Jasta 17
• Jasta 32b
• Jasta 7
• Seefrosta 1
• Jasta 57

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.V
2. Salamander Books - The Complete book of fighters
3. Osprey - Aircraf fo the Aces 77 - Albatros Aces of World War I (2)

Albatros D.V - German users, part four

We continue with this airplane that was mass produced in Germany during the World War I.

Designed by Robert Thelen it was produced by Albatros due to an order from the idflieg (the general inspection of the luftstreitkräfte) to achieve an improved version of the D.III in April 1917.
Resembling the aforementioned D.III and sharing the same engine, the 170hp Mercedes D.IIIa, the most noticeable difference was the shape of the fuselage, which was lighter than the one of the D.III. The rudder was also different because it incorporated the sub-variant designed by OAW, which became standard. It also had a larger spinner and a ventral fin.

The upper wing was positioned closer to the fuselage and the lower ones were attached to the fuselage without using any fairing, but on the rest, they remained identical to those of the D.III, which had a sesquiplane wing configuration, similar to those of the French Nieuport 11.
The only noticeable difference from the D.III wings was a revised linkeage in the aileron cables which were completely repositioned in the upper wing.

Some early examples included a headrest, but was quickly removed because it obstructed the pilots field of view and it was deleted from the production chain. It's also known that some airplanes deployed in Palestine and Middle-east featured two radiators mounted on the upper-wing in order to deal with the warmer climate.

The idflieg ordered 200 D.V airplanes in April 1917 and was quickly increased in 400 in May and 300 in July. Most of the production was undertaken at the Johannisthal factory, in Berlin.

This time it's the turn for the next Jastas (squadrons)

• Jasta 28
• Jasta 23b
• Jasta 18
• Jasta 37
• Jasta 12

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.V
2. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 77 - Albatros Aces of World War I (2)

Albatros D.V - German users, part three

We keep going with this important German fighter of the First World War.

The squadron covered in this post are:

• Jasta 34b
• Jasta 37
• Jasta 40
• Jasta 76b
• Jgr. 8
• Seefrosta 1 (was part of the Marinefliegerkorps - the German navy air service)
• Jasta 23

Sources:
1. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 32 - Albatros Aces of World War I
2. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 77 - Albatros Aces of World War I (2)

Albatros D.V - German users, part two

Here it's the second part of the native Albatros D.V users.

The squadrons (Jasta) covered in this post are:

• Jasta 15
• Jasta 16b
• Jasta 23b
• Jasta 24
• Jasta 26

Sources:
1. Osprey - Aircraf of the Aces 32 - Albatros Aces of World War I

Albatros D.V - German users, part one

As this was one of the most important fighter of the World War I, it deserves a wide coverage, that's why we are going to give it various posts.

We'll cover the design and the development history later as well as the operational history.

The squadrons covered in this post are:

• Jasta 5 (recognizable by the green tail)
• Jasta 6
• Jasta 7
• Jasta 10
• Jasta 11
• Jasta 12

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.V
2. Osprey - Aicraft of the Aces 32 - Albatros Aces of World War I

A.G.O. DV.3

This is a special post because it doesn't contain any drawing due to the lack of blueprints or profile pictures, it's just a descriptive post.

The A.G.O. DV.3 was a German prototype fighter of 1915 designed by August Häfeli, the same who, after the war would design the native Swiss fighter Häfeli DH-4. It was a two-bay biplane of traditional configuration powered by a 99hp Oberursel engine. As the A.G.O. company was very reluctant about manufacturing fighters (in fact this one would have been the only one they designed) it's said that only one airplane was completed and it's not very clear if any weaponry was installed.


Anyway, when performance tests were performed, it was found to be seriously underpowered and any further development was discontinued.

The A.G.O. Dv.3 when it was tested back in 1915

Albatros D.IV

New week comes with a new airplane. Even if it isn't very different from the other ones that we've been drawing during the past week.

The Albatros D.IV was an experimental German fighter which was designed to test a geared, completely enclosed within the fuselage, version of the 160hp Mercedes engine, because of the enclosement, the rpm of the engine had to be reduced from 1400 rpm to 900 rpm due to the lack of cranckshaft.

It was based on the Albatros D.II cellule, enlengthened. Three D.IV were ordered in November 1916 but it seems that only one of them was completed and could flown. Tests were performed with two, three and four-bladed propellers until April 1918, but the excessive vibration and the limited performance provoked the discontinuation of the programme.

Sources:
1. The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.IV

Albatros D.III - German Users, part three

We finish with this excellent German fighter by covering even more of its German users.

When it entered service in December 1916 it was quickly acclaimed by the German pilots thanks to its maneouvrability and climb rate, even if, just like its inmediate predecessor, the Albatros D.II, had the same fault regarding the position of the radiator. As it was placed in the center of the upper wing, it could break and scald the pilot. That's the reason why from the 290th airplane onwards, the radiator was placed in the upper wing but at the right, instead of the center while most of the already deployed ones were field-modified to solve that problem.
Some of the aircraft serving in the middle-east were equipped with two radiators to deal with the warmer climate.

Just like one of its inmediate rival, the Nieuport 17 it began experiencing some failures on the lower wing ribs and the leading edge. In fact, on 23rd January 1917 suffered a failure on the lower right wing spar and the next day, Manfred von Richtofens' airplane wing cracked. That's why the German Aviation Corps high command issued an order to keep all the D.III grounded in order to search for a solution for that serious problem. On February, Albatros introduced a reinforced lower wing and the order was called-off.
The new airplanes from then on would already be produced with the new reinforced lower wing, while the already operational D.III were withdrawn from the frontlines and the Jastas were forced to use the already obsolete Albatros D.II and the Halberstadt D.II.

Leaving those problems aside, the D.III was considered a very good airplane which was easy and pleasant to fly, even if it was somehow heavy to control and the sesquiplane arrangement of the wings offered an excellent downwards visibility, climb rate and maneouvrability.

Approximately 500 airplanes were manufactured by Albatros itself until the production was shifted to OAW which was a subsidiary of Albatros.
It's stimated that at the peak of it's service, 446 D.III served just in the western front only and, even when the better Albatros D.V was already in service, the D.III continued serving until the armistice.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.III
2. The complete book of fighters
3. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 32 - Albatros Aces of World War I
4. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 77 - Albatros Aces of World War I (2)
5. Osprey - Air Vanguard 13 - Albatros D.III

Albatros D.III - German Users, part two

We keep going with this German fighter, now with more German users.

We will write about the fighter operational history in the next post, which will be the last one dedicated to the D.III.

The squadrons covered in this post are:

• Jasta 31
• Jasta 49
• Jasta 57
• Jasta 12
• Jasta 24
• Jasta 28w
• Jasta 34b
• Jasta 34

Sources: 
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.III
2. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 32 - Albatros Aces of World War I

Albatros D.III - German Users, part one.

We keep going with this excellent German fighter of the First World War.

The development started back in summer 1916 when the success of the D.I and the D.II was evident. It's not known when it flew for the first time, but it's believed that it was in late August or early September 1916.

It used the same semi-monocoque plywood covered fuselage of its predecessors but with a single significant difference: Its wing arrangement was sesquiplane style, copying the configuration of the Nieuport airplanes that were so successful back then. That way, the upper wingspan was extended and the lower wing was redesigned in order to reduce its chord. The struts were replaced by new 'V'-shaped ones, that's why the British pilots nicknamed the D.III as the 'V-Strutter'.

The official tests were so successful that a contract order was signed for the production of 400 airplanes in september 1916 plus 50 more in February and March 1917, the biggest order to date.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_D.III
2. The Complete book of fighters

A.E.G. DJ.I

This time we bring you a further development of the AEG armoured attack fighter.

Chasing the concept of a single-seat armoured ground-attack fighter, AEG begun to develop an aerodynamicaly advanced biplane at the same time they tested the AEG PE expecting this one, the DJ.I to be completed in July 1918. In the end, the test were still undergoing when the armistice reached.

Two prototypes were completed and both were powered by the 195hp Benz Bz IIIb engine. A third prototype was planned to be powered by a more powerful 240hp Maybach Mb IVa engine and all three of them were to be armed with twin forward-firing LMG 08/15 machine-guns and could hold up to four small bombs under the fuselage.
Another interesting feature is that, just like it's predecessor, the wings, provided by I section struts, lacked any flying wires and were dural-made and covered with fabric. The fuselage had some armour protection in the nose section, just to cover the engine, the fuel tank and the pilot, consisting in an alluminium sheet skinning.

Data taken from: 

• 1. The complete book of fighters 
• 2. Wikipedia