The Aviatik D.VII 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 ...

German single-seat

biplane 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 ...

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 ...

built by in the last year of 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 ...

. It could not participate in the Third Fighter Competition of October 1918 because it used the wrong engine and it saw no military service, although 50 aircraft were possibly found in storage after the war. The only significant change from the earlier Aviatik D.VI was a completely new tail structure.

Design and development

The D.VI and D.VII were both single-seat, two-bay biplanes of wooden construction with a plywood-covered

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 ...

and fabric-covered wings and tail surfaces. Their

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and no ...

, Benz Bz.IIIbm V-eight piston engine was equipped with a

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

and drove a wooden, fixed-pitch, 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 ...

that was fitted with a

spinner Spinner may refer to: Technology * Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in ...

. The engine was covered by a metal

cowling A cowling (or cowl) is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings ...

. 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 located in front of the engine. Its armament comprised two fixed, forward-firing LMG 08/15 Spandau machine guns. The tail structure of the D.VII was revised and enlarged from that of the D.VI, significantly improving its maneuverability and flying qualities. The Third Fighter Competition only allowed aircraft powered by the

BMW IIIa BMW IIIa was an inline six-cylinder SOHC valvetrain, water-cooled aircraft engine, the first-ever engine produced by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, who, at the time, were exclusively an aircraft engine manufacturer. Its success laid the foundati ...

engine to participate, so the D.VII was not demonstrated there. Aviation historians Jack Herris, William Green & Gordon Swanborough maintain that Aviatik covertly built 50 D.VIIs that the Inter-Allied Aeronautical Commission of Control discovered after the war, but this is not confirmed by historians Lennart Andersson and Ray Sanger in their book on postwar German aviation, ''Retribution and Recovery: German Aircraft and Aviation 1919 to 1922''.Andersson & Sanger

Specifications

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Idflieg D-class designations D.VII