The Aviatik D.IV was a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

single-seat, biplane fighter built by for the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

's ()

Imperial German Air Service Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Impe ...

() during the

First World War 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 ...

. One aircraft was built and it was a contender at the Second Fighter Competition held in May—June 1918, together with the Aviatik D.III from which it was developed, but it was not selected for production.

Design

Like the D.III, the forward

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

of the D.IV was built from steel tubing covered with

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

and the

single-bay A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

wooden wings were covered with doped fabric. The lower wing was mounted on a keel that protruded from the fuselage to ensure that the gap between the wings was large enough to avoid airflow interference. Its layout was conventional, with the pilot's

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

beneath the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

of the upper wing; there was a semi-circular cutout in the upper wing above the cockpit to improve the pilot's view above the aircraft. A piston engine in the nose drove a four-bladed

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

. The

radiator A radiator is a heat exchanger used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

was faired into the upper wing.Gray & Thetford 1970, p. 286 The choice of powerplant was the major departure from the D.III, using the Benz Bz.IIIbv geared V-eight engine. This was a larger displacement and more powerful version of the two Bz.III subtypes that had been fitted to the D.III prototypes. None of these engines were mature yet, leading aviation historian Jack Herris to speculate that entering these aircraft with pre-production engines in the competition might have had the primary purpose of developing the engines.Herris 2023, p. 181 The authors of ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' speculate that in addition to the engine change, the D.IV probably incorporated a revision to the wing structure used on the D.III.''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'', p. 376

Specifications

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{Idflieg D-class designations 1910s German fighter aircraft Aviatik aircraft Biplanes Conventional-tail aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with conventional landing gear Aircraft first flown in 1918