Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German

Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Combat Forces)known before October 1916 as (The Imperial German Air Service, lit. "The flying troops of the German Kaiser’s Reich")was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-langu ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The company was based in Johannisthal,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1909. The company (and its subsidiary, Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW)) produced many capable

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

, notably the

Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service () during World War I. A modified licensed version was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service (''Luftfahrtruppen''). The D.III was flown ...

and Albatros D.V, both designed by Robert Thelen. The Albatros merged into

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

in 1931.

History

The company was founded in Berlin-Johannisthal in late 1909 by Enno Walther Huth as the Albatros Werke AG. The first aircraft the company produced was a French Antoinette monoplane, which they built under licence. They then produced several versions of the

Etrich Taube The Etrich ''Taube'', also known by the names of the various later manufacturers who built versions of the type, such as the Rumpler ''Taube'', was a pre-World War I monoplane aircraft. It was the first military aeroplane to be mass-produced in ...

monoplane, as well the Doppeltaube biplane which used the same basic planform. A variety of other biplanes, with more conventional wing planforms were also built and flown. In 1912, five Albatros F-2 were built. This was a development of the French

Farman III The Farman III, also known as the Henry Farman 1909 biplane, was an early French aircraft designed and built by Henry Farman in 1909. Its design was widely imitated, so much so that aircraft of similar layout were generally referred to as being ...

biplane (hence the letter F) with a gondola for the crew and an Argus in-line engine instead of the original

Gnome Omega The Gnome 7 Omega (commonly called the Gnome 50 hp) is a French seven-cylinder, air-cooled aero engine produced by Gnome et Rhône. It was shown at the Paris Aero Salon held in December 1908 and was first flown in 1909. It was the world's ...

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...

. Four were sold to Bulgaria where they took an active part in the 1912–1913

Balkan wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

. On October 16, 1912, one of these carried out the first combat mission over Europe.I.Borislavov, R.Kirilov: ''The Bulgarian Aircraft, Vol.I: From Bleriot to Messerschmitt''. Litera Prima, Sofia, 1996 (in Bulgarian) During

, Albatros Flugzeugwerke produced about 10,300 aircraft, including fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. After the war, production of various civilian types was carried out.

Aircraft

References

External links

The Virtual Aviation Museum
{{Albatros aircraft Aviation history of Berlin Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany Manufacturing companies based in Berlin Manufacturing companies established in 1909 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1931 1909 establishments in Germany 1931 disestablishments in Germany Companies of Prussia