Albatros Experimentals
At long last I have finished one of the last of the Albatros X-planes. Once again I am not sure what color the actual aircraft was painted, but I like color and not black and white so I will use a conjectural color scheme. If anyone knows what the correct color should be please contact me and let me know I am in error.
Albatros D.IX was a German prototype single-seat fighter built by Albatros Flugzeugwerke in early 1918. During this time Germany had its back to the wall, resources were becoming in short supply and simple cost effective aircraft were needed. The design of the D.IX was meant to streamline manufacturing. It differed from previous Albatros fighter designs by using a simplified fuselage with a flat bottom and slab sides. The wings and tail were similar to those of the unsuccessful Albatros D.VII.
Power was provided by a Mercedes D.IIIa in-line water cooled engine producing 180 hp (130 kW). The D.IX was armed with twin synchronised 0.312 in (7.92 mm) LMG 08/15 machine guns. The test flight of the prototype revealed the performance of the aircraft to be disappointing. Because of the performance report the project was quickly discontinued without any more examples being built.
References
- Albatros D.IX. (2010, May 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:02, June 18, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albatros_D.IX&oldid=360031403
- Albatros D.IX. The Virtual Aircraft Museum Retrieved 01:52, June 18, 2011, from http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/albatros_d-9.php
- Albatros D.IX. The Virtual Aviation Museum Retrieved 01:55, June 18, 2011, from http://www.luftfahrtmuseum.com/htmi/itf/albd9.htm
- Green, W. & Swanborough, G. (1994). The Complete Book of Fighters
. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 1-85833-777-1
- Grosz, Peter M. Albatros Experimentals- Forgotten Fighters 1
. Windsock Datafile Specials Albatros Productions Limited (1 Jan 1992) ISBN-10: 0948414456 ISBN-13: 978-0948414459
- Frederic P. Miller (Editor), Agnes F. Vandome (Editor), John McBrewster (Editor). Albatros D.IX
. March 2011. VDM Publishing House Ltd. ISBN-13: 9786135508215 ISBN: 6135508210
2 comments:
Nice aircraft, bit of a banana shape to the main body.
There seems to be a trend with late war Albatros aircraft to have that pronounced curve to the upper fuselage. Perhaps it was to try to enhance the field of vision a swell as a more streamlined aerodynamic shape.
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