Albatros Flugzeugwerke

Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German Luftstreitkräfte during World War I.

The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on 20 December 1909. The company (and its subsidiary, Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW)) produced many capable fighter aircraft, notably the Albatros D.III and Albatros D.V, both designed by Robert Thelen. Albatros merged into Focke-Wulf in 1931.

History

The company was founded in Berlin-Johannisthal in late 1909 by Enno Walther Huth as the Albatros Werke AG. The first aircraft the company produced was a French Antoinette monoplane, which they built under licence.

They then produced several versions of the Etrich Taube monoplane, as well the Doppeltaube biplane which used the same basic planform. A variety of other biplanes, with more conventional wing planforms were also built and flown.

In 1912, five Albatros F-2 were built. This was a development of the French Farman III biplane (hence the letter F) with a gondola for the crew and an Argus in-line engine instead of the original Gnome Omega rotary engine. Four were sold to Bulgaria where they took an active part in the 1912–1913 Balkan wars.

On 16 October 1912, one of these carried out the first combat mission over Europe.<ref>I.Borislavov, R.Kirilov: The Bulgarian Aircraft, Vol.I: From Bleriot to Messerschmitt. Litera Prima, Sofia, 1996 (in Bulgarian)</ref>

During World War I, Albatros Flugzeugwerke produced about 10,300 aircraft, including fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. After the war, production of various civilian types was carried out.

Aircraft

Company Designations	Idflieg/RLM Designations	First flight	Number built	Type	Image
Taube	n/a			Reconnaissance	File:Albatros Taube 01 00088752.jpg
Doppeltaube	n/a	1910		Reconnaissance
L.1	B.I	1913		Reconnaissance	File:Albatros B.I geïnterneerd op 13 april 1915 157-010-002.jpg
L.2	B.II	1914		Reconnaissance	File:Albatros BII-3.jpg
L.3/GDD	n/a	1914	6	Single-seat reconnaissance	File:Albatros L3.jpg
L.4	G.I	1916	1	Bomber	File:Albatros G.I 1915.jpg
L.5/LDD	B.III	1917		Reconnaissance	File:Albatros B.III 03.jpg
L.6	C.I	1915	629 ca.	Reconnaissance	File:Albatros C.I.jpg
L.7	C.I	1915	qv L.6	Reconnaissance
L.8	C.II	1916		Reconnaissance	File:Albatros C. II visão traseira.jpg
L.9/ME	n/a			Single-seat reconnaissance	Error creating thumbnail:
L.10	C.III	1915	2271 ca.	Reconnaissance	File:Albatros C.III.jpg
L.11	G.II	1916	1	Bomber	File:Albatros G.II Ray Wagner Collection Image (20822224693).jpg
L.12	C.IV	1916	1	Reconnaissance
L.13	C.I	1915		Reconnaissance
L.14	C.V	1916	400 ca.	Reconnaissance	File:C.VI.jpg
L.15	D.I	1916	50	Fighter	Error creating thumbnail:
L.16	C.III	1915	qv L.10	Reconnaissance
L.17	D.II	1916	291	Fighter	File:Albatros D.II.jpg
L.18	C.VII	1916	600+	Reconnaissance	File:C.VII.jpg
L.19	C.VIII N	1917	1	Night bomber
L.20	D.III	1916	1,866	Fighter	File:Albatros D.III German fighter c1917.jpg
L.21	G.III	1916	9+	Bomber	File:Albatros G.III Ray Wagner Collection Image (21417112426).jpg
L.22	D.IV	1917	3	Fighter	File:AlbatrosD.IV.jpg
L.23	C.IX	1917		Reconnaissance	File:Albatros C.IX.jpg
L.24	D.V & D.Va	1917	2500 ca.	Fighter	File:Captured Albatros DVa at Armentieres 1917.jpg
L.25	C.X	1917	300+	Reconnaissance
L.26	C.XI	n/a	0	Reconnaissance project
L.27	C.XII	1917		Reconnaissance
L.28	D.VI	1917	1	Fighter
L.29	C.XIII	1917	1	Two-seat fighter
L.30	B.II	1914		Trainer
L.31	C.XIV	1918	1	Reconnaissance
L.32	C.Ia	1915		Trainer
L.33	C.Ib	1915		Trainer
L.34	D.VII	1917	1	Fighter
L.35	D.VIII	n/a	0	Fighter
L.36	Dr.I	1917	1	Triplane fighter
L.37	D.IX	1917	1	Fighter
L.38	D.X	1918	1	Fighter
L.39	Dr.II	1918	1	Triplane fighter
L.40	J.I	1917	240 ca.	Ground attack
L.41	D.XI	1918	2	Fighter
L.42	J.II	1918	4+	Ground attack
L.43	D.XII	1918	2	Fighter
L.44	D.XIII	n/a	0	Fighter project
L.45	D.XIIIa	n/a	0	Fighter project
L.46	D.XIV	1918	1	Two-seat fighter
L.47	C.XV	1918	50 ca.	Two-seat fighter
L.48	J.III	n/a	0	ground attack project
L.49/DA 1	n/a	n/a	0	unknown project
L.50	G.IV	n/a	0	Bomber project
L.51	C.If			Trainer
L.52	C.I			Trainer
L.53	CLS.I			Ground attack
L.54	F.I	n/a	0	Reconnaissance project
L.55	D.XV	n/a	0	Fighter
L.56	n/a	n/a	0	Airliner project
L.57	n/a	n/a	0	Airliner project
L.58	n/a	1923	7	Airliner
L.59	n/a	1923	1	Sportsplane
L.60	n/a	1923	3	Sportsplane
L.65	n/a	1925	2	Reconnaissance
L.66	n/a	1924	10	Sportsplane
L.67	n/a	1924	2	Sportsplane
L.68	n/a	1926	18	Trainer
L.69	n/a	1925	4	Trainer
L.70	n/a	1925		Reconnaissance
L.71	n/a	1925	2	Sportplane
L.72 & L 72A	n/a	1925	5	Newspaper distribution aircraft<ref>"A Flying Boat on Wheels" Flight 1926</ref>
L.73	n/a	1926	4	Airliner
L.74	n/a	1928	2	Trainer
L.75 Ass	n/a	1928	43	Trainer
L.76 Aeolus	n/a	1927	6	Trainer
L.77v	n/a	1928	4	Fighter/reconnaissance
L.78	n/a	1928	13	Reconnaissance
L.79 Kobold	n/a	1929	2	Aerobatics
L.80	n/a	n/a	0	Night bomber project
L.81 Elektra	n/a	1932	1	Experimental aircraft
L.82	n/a	1929	72	Trainer
L.83 Adler	n/a	1931	2	Airliner/transport
L.84	n/a	1935	5	Fighter
L.85-99 skipped
L.100	n/a	1930	1	Air racing
L.101	Al 101	1930	71	Trainer
L.102	Al 102	1932	10	Trainer
L.103	Al 103	1933	1	Experimental
H.1	n/a	n/a	1	altitude record (not flown)
W.1/WDD	B.II-W	1913		Patrol floatplane
W.2	n/a	1916	1	Patrol floatplane
W.3	Marine 527	1916	1	Floatplane torpedo bomber
W.4	n/a	1916	118	Floatplane fighter
W.5	Marine 845-849	1917	5	Floatplane torpedo bomber
W.6	n/a		1	Floatplane fighter
W.7	n/a		1	Floatplane fighter
W.8	Marine 5001-5003	1918	3	Two-seat floatplane fighter
W.10	n/a	n/a	0	Flying boat project of 1922

External links

• The Virtual Aviation Museum