Oliver Wulff's replica Albatros DVa, G-WAHT, displaying at Old Warden Aerodrome during the Shuttleworth Vintage Airshow 2022. This replica was built in New Zealand during 2016 by Sir Peter Jackson's The Vintage Aviator Ltd (TVAL) and includes a replica 180 horse power in-line 6 cylinder Mercedes DIII engine, also made by TVAL. It is currently operated in the United Kingdom by the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust (WW1AHT) and based at Stow Maries Airfield in Essex. The Albatros is authentic in every detail to the original design, with no brakes, a bungee cord suspension, a wooden fuselage and linen covered wings with the famous German 'lozenge' camouflage. It's presented in the colours of Albatros D.2263/17 which was flown by German ace, Leutnant Otto Kissenberth at the time he commanded the Royal Bavarian Jagdstaffel 23b (the 'b' suffix signifies that it was a Bavarian unit) of the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte (German Air Service), between 4th August 1917 and 29th May 1918. During this time Jasta 23b were stationed at Jametz (until 24/11/17), St. Hard (until 4/2/18), Aniche (until 16/3/18), Emerchicourt (until 27/3/18), Bapaume (until 18/4/18) and Epinoy (until 27/8/18) and Leutnant Kissenberth gained 20 victories over British and allied aircraft, the majority of which were while flying the original Albatros D.2263/17.
The Albatros D.V entered service in May 1917 and structural failures of the lower wing immediately occurred. The outboard sections of the D.V upper wing also suffered failures, requiring additional wire bracing and the fuselage sometimes cracked during rough landings. Against these problems, the D.V offered very little improvement in performance with front line pilots preferring the older D.III. Manfred von Richthofen was critical of the new aircraft - In a July 1917 letter, he described the D.V as "so obsolete and so ridiculously inferior to the English that one can't do anything with this aircraft". British tests of a captured D.V revealed that the aircraft was slow to manoeuvre, heavy on the controls and tiring to fly.
Albatros responded with the D.Va, which featured stronger wing spars, heavier wing ribs and a reinforced fuselage. The modified D.Va was 23 kg heavier than the D.III but the structural problems were not entirely cured. Use of the high-compression (180 hp) Mercedes D.IIIaü engine offset the increased weight of the D.Va. The D.Va also reverted to the D.III aileron cable linkage, running outwards through the lower wing, then upwards to the ailerons - much the same as the earlier Albatros B.I unarmed two-seater had used before 1914 - to provide a more positive control response. The wings of the D.III and D.Va were interchangeable. To further strengthen the wing, the D.Va added a small diagonal brace connecting the forward interplane strut to the leading edge of the lower wing; the brace was also retrofitted to some D.Vs.
Orders were placed for 262 D.Va aircraft in August 1917, for another 250 in September and 550 in October. Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke, which had been engaged in production of the D.III, received orders for 600 D.Va aircraft in October and deliveries started later that month. The structural problems of the Fokker Dr.I and the mediocre performance of the Pfalz D.III left the Luftstreitkräfte with no alternative to the D.Va until the Fokker D.VII entered service in mid-1918. Production of the D.Va ceased in April 1918. In May 1918, 131 D.V and 928 D.Va aircraft were in service on the Western Front; the numbers declined as the Fokker D.VII and other types replaced the Albatros in the final months of the war. By 31 August, fewer than 400 Albatros fighters of all types remained at the front but they continued in service until the Armistice.
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14 мар 2023
