Germany - 1917 AEG D.I and Dr.I

AEG Experimental Aircraft - 1917

Building experimental aircraft has always a gamble. What looked good on the drawing board could be a death trap in the air. AEG had designed the efficient G- class bomber which served well in the war. Spurred on by their success the company designed a fighter for testing. The results of the experiment was less than spectacular.

The Crash-Prone AEG D.I

AEG AEG D.I - 1917

The AEG D.I was a biplane fighter built in 1917 by Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG). Three prototypes were ordered for the Luftstreitkräfte, but after the first two aircraft were involved in serious crashes, development was cancelled. A triplane version was built as the Dr.I. The second and third prototypes differed little except in minor details.

The D.I was powered by a Mercedes D.IIIa 6-cylinder, liquid-cooled inline engine, producing 158 hp (118 kW). The armament was twin forward-firing 0.312 in (7.92 mm) LMG 08/15 machine guns mounted on the deck.

Variants

• A.E.G. D.I - 1917 prototype single seat bi-plane fighter.
• A.E.G. Dr.I - 1917 prototype single seat tri-plane fighter.

Aircraft numbers

• AEG D.I - first prototype serial number not known.
• AEG D.I - second prototype serial number D4401/17.
• AEG D.I - third prototype serial number D5002/17
• AEG Dr.I - prototype serial number not known

The Unsuccessful AEG Dr.I Tripane

AEG Dr.I - 1917

The AEG Dr.I was a triplane fighter of World War I, built by Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft in 1917 during Germany's period of experimentation of the triplane concept. The design was based on the equaly unuccessful AEG D.I.

The Dr.I was powered by a Mercedes D.IIIa 6-cylinder, liquid-cooled inline engine, producing 158 hp (118 kW). The armament was twin forward-firing 0.312 in (7.92 mm) LMG 08/15 machine guns mounted on the deck.

Only a single prototype was built and its poor performance meant there was no further production of this model.

The Final Word

Life by Murphy

Is there a law when you have a technical issue it is in the middle of a 4 day weekend? My connection has been dodgy at best and even more so last night. A call to my internet provider consisted of a lively dialog with a phone bot and an extended not always intelligible conversation with off-shore tech support located in India. I followed their instructions and made changes as asked, after I made them repeat them several times and read it back to them. When I tried to log on I got an error message that my modem was malfunctioning. As I was uninstalling and reinstalling my modem I get a call from the call station supervisor. She was equally unintelligible, the gist of the conversation was she did not care about the issue, she was just attempting to play "cover my ass". (aka: CYA). Needless to say my volume level escalated to the "room shaking bellow" range. The point of this rant is to say I have not been able to read and comment on as many blogs as I would have wanted.

I want to give Francis of The Angry Lurker fame a shout out and send a get well soon message. We all miss you mate.

References

1. AEG D.I. (2010, December 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:14, February 27, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AEG_D.I&oldid=402605916
2. AEG Dr.I. (2010, August 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:45, February 27, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AEG_Dr.I&oldid=380535853
3. AEG D.I 1917 The Virtual Aircraft Museum. Retrieved 03:10, February 27, 2011, from http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/aeg_d-1.php
4. AEG Dr I 1917 The Virtual Aircraft Museum Retrieved 04:40, February 27, 2011, from http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/aeg_dr-1.php
5. AEG Dr I 1917 The Virtual Aviation Museum Retrieved 04:50, February 27, 2011, from http://www.luftfahrtmuseum.com/htmi/itf/aegdr1.htm
6. Gray, Peter and Thetford, Owen. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 2nd Ed. 1970.
7. Gray, Peter and Thetford, Owen. German Aircraft of the First World War. London:Putnam, 1962.