Aviation / Aerospace

Aviatik B.I

Reconnaissance Biplane Aircraft [1914]

The Aviatik B.I biplane aircraft became a capable reconnaissance platform serving with the German Empire up until early 1916.

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

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The Aviatik B.I series handled reconnaissance duties for Germany in the early years of the war, serving up to about early 1916 before being replaced by more improved contemporaries. The system was sufficient in the role and was a product of the Automobil und Aviatikwerke company, which handled production out of facilities based in Austria and Leipzig.

The design of the B.I was basic for the time, of a biplane nature and utilizing a crew of two to handle piloting and observation duty. The crew sat in tandem, though the observer was kept in the front portion of the fuselage with the pilot behind him. In theory, this would have afforded the observer a pretty good view of the front forward facing though it would handicap the pilot by being seated further back than was the norm (the engine was fitted before both seats, pushing the pilot's overall perspective rearwards even more).

The B.I was conceived of from an original racing biplane design appearing in 1913. This was a pivotal undertaking for the Automobil und Aviatikwerke bureau as their previous designs were nothing more than copied French designs, a bit of flattery sent in the "enemies" direction one might think. Nonetheless, the Aviatik B.I served well for its tenure during the war and was eventually superceded by the B.II series, which sported an improved and more powerful Mercedes-brand engine.

Specifications

Service Year

1914

Origin

Imperial Germany

Status

RETIRED
Not in Service.

Crew

2

Production

1,200
UNITS

Automobil und Aviatikwerke - Germany

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

National flag of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary; German Empire; Kingdom of Italy; Paraguay; Turkey

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

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

Length

26.1 ft
(7.97 m)

Width/Span

45.8 ft
(13.97 m)

Height

10.8 ft
(3.30 m)

Empty Wgt

1,874 lb
(850 kg)

MTOW

2,399 lb
(1,088 kg)

Wgt Diff

+525 lb
(+238 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Aviatik B.I production variant)

Installed: 1 x Mercedes 6-cylinder liquid-cooled inline engine developing 100 horsepower driving a two-bladed propeller unit at the nose.

Max Speed

62 mph
(100 kph | 54 kts)

Ceiling

16,404 ft
(5,000 m | 3 mi)

Range

249 mi
(400 km | 741 nm)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Aviatik B.I production variant. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

B.I - Base Production Model Designation.

B.II - Improved B.I version fitted with more powerful Mercedes powerplant; 1 x 7.7mm machine gun.

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