Albatros D.VI was the designation given to a prototype single seat twin-boom pusher biplane built in 1917 in Germany.
It was armed with a fixed 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 machine gun and a fixed 20 mm (0.787 in) Becker Type M2 cannon.
The aircraft’s undercarriage was damaged on landing from its maiden flight in February 1918 and was never repaired, the project being abandoned in May of that year due to other projects of higher priority.
The 130 kW (170 hp) Mercedes D.IIIa engine was eventually removed for use in a different aircraft.
Albatros D.VII
The Albatros D.VII was a German prototype single seat fighter biplane flown in August 1917.
It was powered by a water-cooled Benz Bz.IIIb V8 engine developing 145 kW (195 hp) and armed with two 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine guns.
The D.VII had ailerons on both upper and lower wings linked by hinged struts.
The D.VII’s performance was deemed an insufficient advance over existing aircraft to justify further development.
Albatros D.X
The Albatros D.X was a German prototype single seat fighter biplane developed in 1918 in parallel with the Albatros D.IX.
The D.X used the same slab sided and flat bottomed fuselage as the D.IX, which was a departure from previous Albatros designs, It was powered by a 145 kW (195 hp) Benz Bz.IIIbo water cooled V8 engine in place of the D.IX’s Mercedes D.IIIa straight-six.
The D.X participated in the second D-type contest at Adlershof in June 1918, but development ceased at the prototype stage.
Albatros D.XI
The Albatros D.XI was a German single seat fighter biplane first flown in February 1918.
It was the first Albatros fighter to use a rotary engine, in the form of the 120 kW (160 hp) Siemens-Halske Sh.III, and also featured a new wing construction with diagonal struts from the fuselage replacing traditional wire bracing.
The wings had unequal spans with the upper planes having greater span than the lower ones, and were braced by I-struts with an aerofoil cross-section, additional rigidity being provided by twinned diagonal struts from the base of these to the top of the fuselage, located where the “landing wires” of a normal wire-braced biplane would be.
The use of a rotary engine necessitated a large-diameter propeller and a correspondingly tall undercarriage.
The D.XI was armed with the same twin 7.92 mm (.312 in) Spandau LMG 08/15 machine guns employed on other Albatros fighters.
Two prototypes were built, the first having balanced, parallel-chord ailerons and a four-blade propeller; and the second with inversely tapered, unbalanced ailerons and a two-blade propeller.
The D.XI was not put into production.
Albatros D.XII
The Albatros D.XII was a German single-seat fighter biplane first flown in March 1918.
It was the last of the Albatros fighters completed and flown before the end of World War I and had the same slab-sided fuselage seen on the Albatros D.X.
The first example of the D.XII used a 134 kW (180 hp) Mercedes D.IIIa engine and had balanced, parallel-chord ailerons.
The second, built in April 1918, featured unbalanced, inversely tapered ailerons and Bohme undercarriage with pneumatic shock absorbers.
Although it was initially fitted with the Mercedes engine, it was later re-engined with a BMW IIIa producing 138 kW (185 hp). In this form, the D.XII competed in the third Adlershof D-Type Contest in October 1918.
No further aircraft were built.
Albatros Dr.I
The Albatros Dr. I was a German fighter triplane derivative of the D.V fitted with three pairs of wings instead of two.
Identical in most other respects to the D.V, in the summer of 1917 it was flown side by side with the existing biplane in comparison trials.
There was no discernible performance advantage and development was halted at the prototype stage.
Albatros Dr.II
The Albatros Dr.II was a German prototype single-seat fighter triplane, the sole example of which flew in the spring of 1918.
It was similar in many respects to the D.X biplane, employing among other features the same 145 kW (195 hp) Benz Bz.IIIbo engine and twin 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine guns.
The three pairs of wings were sharply staggered, braced by broad I-struts, and shared parallel chords.
All three pairs were equipped with ailerons, which were linked by hinged struts.
Albatros G.I
The Albatros G.I, (post-war company designation L.4), was a four engined German biplane bomber of World War I.
Founded on 27 April 1914 the Ostdeutsche Albatroswerke G.m.b.H. at Schneidemühl by Otto Wiener and Dr. Walter Huth, the OAW maintained close ties with Albatros, remaining an independent company until October 1917.
The majority of OAWs work involved license manufacture of products from the parent Albatros company.
Given the company designation L4, one of the few homegrown designs was the Albatros G.I a four-engined heavy bomber inspired by the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets.
The G.I was of typical construction for 1915, with wooden structure, wire braced and covered with fabric and four engines mounted in nacelles on the lower wing upper surface.
First flown on 31 January 1916 by Alexander Hipleh, flight trials revealed not only poor flying qualities, but also poor performance, which resulted in further development being abandoned.
The later G.II and G.III were not directly related to the G.I, being twin-engined, a lot lighter and having completely different wing designs.
Albatros G.II
The Albatros G.II, (Company post-war designation L.11), was a twin engined German biplane bomber of World War I.
Designed as a medium bomber, the G.II did not share any attributes with the larger G.I, being a single bay biplane with thick section upper wings and rigid X member inter-plane struts.
The graceful lines of the fuselage were spoilt by the twin nose wheel assembly, intended to reduce damage on nose overs and at rest with a forward centre of gravity.
A conventional tail-unit terminated the rear fuselage.
The engines were installed in pusher nacelles, supported by struts from the fuselage and the lower wing trailing edges had cut-outs to allow the engines to be mounted further forward than otherwise possible.
Only a single prototype was built which demonstrated a relatively poor performance so further development was concentrated on the more powerful Albatros G.III.
Albatros L 65
The Albatros L 65 was a German two seat reconnaissance fighter biplane first flown in 1925.
Under the Treaty of Versailles, military aircraft production was restricted in Germany, so Albatros Flugzeugwerke established a subsidiary to build the L 65 in Lithuania.
This company was named Allgemeine Flug-Gesellschaft (A.F.G.) Memel, hence the L 65 was also known as the Memel A.F.G.1.
The L 65 had a single bay, staggered biplane configuration and was constructed of wood with a plywood skin.
The wings were braced by interplane I-struts of broad aerofoil cross-section.
Two prototypes were built, the first powered by a 340 kW (450 hp) water-cooled 12-cylinder “broad-arrow” Napier Lion engine; the second had its first flight in 1926 and had a 421 kW (565 hp) version of the Lion.
The second prototype underwent evaluation by the Reichswehr to equip the clandestine training school at Lipetsk, but the Heinkel HD 17 was selected instead and no further aircraft were produced.
Albatros L 84
The Albatros L 84 was a German tandem two-seat, single bay fighter biplane first flown in 1931.
Four of the five examples produced were built by Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau, into which Albatros Flugzeugwerke was amalgamated in that year.
Powered by a water-cooled 490 kW (660 hp) BMW VIu 7.3Z V12 engine, the L 84 had a fabric-covered fuselage constructed of welded steel tubes, and wooden wings skinned with plywood.
Its armament comprised three 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine guns, two in fixed forward-firing positions and the third ring-mounted in the aft cockpit.
Only the first prototype was completed before Albatros became part of Focke-Wulf, and this was destroyed during flight testing.
A second example was flown in February 1933 by Focke-Wulf under the designation L 84C, using a modified cooling system.
Variants
L 84
L 84C
Focke-Wulf produced version with revised cooling system
