The Albatros B.I, (post-war company designation L.1) was a German military

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

aircraft designed in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...

and which saw service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Design and development

The B.I was a two-seat biplane of conventional configuration that seated the observer and the pilot in separate cockpits in tandem. The wings were originally of three-bay design, but were later changed to a two-bay, unstaggered configuration; featuring a typical aileron control cable system for German aircraft of the time, that allowed for a horizontal control horn that fit into a structural pocket in the wing structure at neutral. A floatplane version was developed as the Albatros W.I.

Variants

;B.I: German production aircraft for the ''

Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Force)—known before October 1916 as (Flyer Troops)—was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, alth ...

'' ;Phönix 20.01:First prototype for Austrian production. ;Phönix 20.02:second prototype for Austrian production. ;B.I(Ph) series 21:Production by Phönix Flugzeug-Werke AG at Vienna for the

Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops The Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops or Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (german: Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or , hu, Császári és Királyi Légjárócsapatok) were the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the e ...

. ;B.I(Ph) series 24:Production by Phönix Flugzeug-Werke AG at Vienna for the

. ;B.I(Ph) series 25:Production by Phönix Flugzeug-Werke AG at Vienna, with the KNV (Knoller Verspannung) for the

; 48 ordered, reduced to 16 due to delays and persistent problems.

Operational history

The B.Is were withdrawn from front line service in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

but some examples served as trainers for the remainder of the war.

Operators

; *

Bulgarian Air Force The Bulgarian Air Force ( bg, Военновъздушни сили, Voennovazdushni sili) is one of the three branches of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard an ...

; * ''

'' * ''

Kaiserliche Marine {{italic title The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term wa ...

'' ; *

Royal Netherlands Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force'' , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

; * The

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mi ...

operated this type postwar. ; *

Ottoman Air Force The Aviation Squadrons of the Ottoman Empire were military aviation units of the Ottoman Army and Navy.Edward J. Erickson, ''Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'', "Appendix D The Ottoman Aviation Inspectorate an ...

; *

Romanian Air Corps The Romanian Air Corps or Aviation Corps (RAC) ( ro, Corpul de Aviație) was the air arm of the Romanian army until the formation of the Romanian Air Force. It was established on 1 April 1913 as the Military Aeronautics Service () and subordina ...

- One Albatros purchased from Germany in 1913

Survivors

The Phönix 20.01, prototype for Austrian production of the Albatros B.I(Ph), is preserved at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Specifications (B.I)

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft 1910s German military reconnaissance aircraft B.I Aircraft first flown in 1913