The Halberstadt B-types of the

Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke or Halberstadt was a German aircraft manufacturer. It was formed on 9 April 1912 under the name ''Deutsche Bristol Werke Flugzeug-Gesellschaft mbH'' in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony. History The British-German jo ...

were two-seat unarmed reconnaissance/training aircraft of the

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

in 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 ...

Development

In 1914, Halberstadt developed a biplane with the

Oberursel U.0 Oberursel (Taunus) (, , in contrast to " Lower Ursel") is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In ...

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 ...

with 80 hp, which was referred to as Halberstadt B.I and was given the factory name A15. The Halberstadt B.II (B15) was built with a Mercedes D.I inline engine with 105 hp and in 1915 the Halberstadt B.III was produced with the slightly stronger

Mercedes D.II The Mercedes D.II was a six-cylinder, SOHC valvetrain liquid-cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler during the early stages of World War I. Producing about 110 to 120 hp, it was at the low-end of the power range of contemporary en ...

(120 hp). Halberstadt B.II was used as the base for the first armed two-seater, the Halberstadt CL.II.

Variants

;A15:Company designation of the aircraft that became the B.I ;B15:Company designation of the aircraft that became the B.II ;B.I: (Company A15) Reconnaissance aircraft powered by a

rotary engine. ;B.II: (Company B15) Reconnaissance aircraft powered by a Mercedes D.I in-line engine. ;B.III: (Company B15) Reconnaissance aircraft powered by a

in-line engine.

Operational history

The B.I was used as a

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

, while the B.II and B.III briefly served as

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...

, but were later also used for pilot training.

Development

Variants

Operational history

Specifications (B.II)

References

Further reading