Albatros D.II

Biplane Fighter [ 1916 ]

The Albatros D.II built upon the success of the D.I by improving it design and performance figures.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/31/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Front left side view of the Albatros D.II biplane fighter

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

Advertisements

Albatros produced a variety of capable fighter mounts throughout World War 1 and the original D.I series proved instrumental in winning back air superiority from the Triple Entente. The D.I exhibited powerful engines coupled with dual-synchronized machine guns and an impressive rate-of-climb to make for a most lethal adversary. However, the skies of World War 1 were a constantly changing front for advances in technology often meant that a weapon system being a complete success one day could very well be made obsolete the next. As such, a powerful line of aircraft could easily be superseded by another within months of being developed, usually leading to short-lived production runs and operational tenures. The Albatros series would be no exception.

The Albatros D.II naturally followed the Albatros D.I into operation with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkrafte) during the war1. The D.II introduced a few fundamental improvements and differed from the D.I primarily in its use of N-shaped struts positioned between the upper forward fuselage and the upper wing assembly. Additionally, the type was fitted with side-mounted air brakes to bring the aircraft to reduced speeds as needed. The upper wing assembly was also lowered to help promote better pilot visibility - the pilot could now look out and over his upper wing. An improved radiator system was housed in an aerodynamic installation that was affixed to the upper wing center section. The aircraft first made its appearance in September of 1916 over the skies of the Western Front, operating from Jagdstaffeln 2 and Jagstaffeln 11 under the commands of Oswald Boelche and Manfred von Richthofen respectively.

Externally, the D.II was conventional with the times, featuring a biplane wing assembly consisting of a lower and upper wing unit supported against one another and the fuselage via parallel struts and cabling. The fuselage was well contoured from nose to tail with the engine fitted to a forward compartment powering a two-bladed wooden propeller unit. The pilot was seated in an open-air cockpit amidships with excellent views around the wings. The fuselage tapered into the empennage which sported a single rounded vertical tail fin and a pair of horizontal planes. The undercarriage was fixed into position and made up of two single-wheeled braced main landing gear legs as a basic tail skid.

Once in operational service, the D.II immediately placed its mark on the air war and was noted for its rater impressive rate-of-climb - 3,280 feet in five minutes - and improvement over the rate the original D.I already enjoyed in a fight. The dual-synchronized 7.92mm LMG 08/15 machine gun arrangement remained and stability was improved to the point that the aircraft played well in helping the Germans to establish air superiority in their favor once again - at least for the moment. Boelcke alone was to score 11 downed enemy aircraft in the span of just 16 days. On September 17th, 1916, Manfred von Richthofen netted his first confirmed air kill while flying his red-colored D.II. According to sources, about 100 D.IIs were ultimately produced.

Like other fighter developments during World War 1, the D.II operated for only a short time before being replaced by the Albatros D.III in production. The D.III was developed with improved maneuverability in mind. In all, the series would entail the D.I, D.II, D.III, D.V and D.Va production models before the end of the war in November of 1918.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications

Service Year

1916

Origin

Imperial Germany

Status

RETIRED
Not in Service.

Crew

1

Production

100
UNITS

Albatros Werke GmbH - Germany

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

National flag of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary; German Empire; Poland

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Air-to-Air Combat, Fighter
General ability to actively engage other aircraft of similar form and function, typically through guns, missiles, and/or aerial rockets.

Length

24.3 ft
(7.40 m)

Width/Span

27.9 ft
(8.50 m)

Height

9.7 ft
(2.95 m)

Empty Wgt

1,422 lb
(645 kg)

MTOW

1,958 lb
(888 kg)

Wgt Diff

+536 lb
(+243 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Albatros D.II production variant)

Installed: 1 x Mercedes D.IIIa liquid-cooled 6-cylinder inline engine developing 160 horsepower driving a two-bladed propeller unit at the nose.

Max Speed

109 mph
(175 kph | 94 kts)

Ceiling

17,060 ft
(5,200 m | 3 mi)

Range

163 mi
(263 km | 487 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

656 ft/min
(200 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Albatros D.II production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD:
2 x 7.92mm Spandau LMG 08/15 fixed, forward-firing synchronized machine guns.

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 0

D.I - Base D-series.

D.II - Lowered top wing; Fundamental and minor aerodynamic changes.

D.III - V-shaped struts introduced.

D.V - Streamlined fuselage.

D.Va - Slightly modified D.V model.

Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force

Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway

Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift

Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War

Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War

Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight

Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War

Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars

Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War

Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War

Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War

Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor

Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War

Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War

Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War

Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War

Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War

Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era

Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War

Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft

Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery

1 / 1

Front left side view of the Albatros D.II biplane fighter