Albatros D.V

Albatros D.V par Wikipedia.en

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The Albatros D.V was a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] used by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Imperial German Air Service) during [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family, and the last Albatros fighter to see operational service.

Despite its well-known shortcomings and general obsolescence, approximately 900 D.V and 1,612 D.Va aircraft were built before production halted in early 1918.

The D.Va continued in operational service until the end of the war.

Development and production


In April 1917, Albatros received an order from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Inspektion der Fliegertruppen) for an improved version of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The prototype flew later that month.

The resulting D.V closely resembled the D.III and used the same 127 kW (170 hp) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engine.

The most notable difference was a new [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] which was 32 kg (70 lb) lighter than that of the D.III.

The elliptical cross-section required an additional longeron on each side of the fuselage.

The prototype D.V retained the standard rudder of the Johannisthal-built D.III, but production examples used the enlarged [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] featured on D.IIIs built by Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW).

The D.V also featured a larger spinner and ventral fin.

The upper wing of the D.V was repositioned 4.75 inches closer to the fuselage, while the lower wings attached to the fuselage without a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The wings themselves were almost identical to those of the standard D.III, except for a revised linkage of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] cables, which were contained entirely in the upper wing.

Idflieg therefore conducted structural tests on the fuselage, but not the wings, of the new aircraft.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

Early examples of the D.V featured a large headrest, which was usually removed in service because it interfered with the pilot's field of view.

The headrest was eventually deleted from production. Aircraft deployed in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] used two wing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to cope with the warmer climate.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] issued production contracts for 200 D.V aircraft in April 1917, followed by additional orders of 400 in May and 300 in July.

Initial production of the D.V was exclusively undertaken by the Johannisthal factory, while the Schneidemühl factory produced the D.III through the remainder of 1917.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s Albatros D.V

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Operational use

The D.V entered service in May 1917 and, like the D.III before it, immediately began experiencing structural failures of the lower wing.
Indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that the D.V was even more prone to wing failures than the D.III.

The outboard sections of the upper wing also suffered failures, requiring additional wire bracing.
Furthermore, the D.V offered very little improvement in performance.
This caused considerable dismay among frontline pilots, many of whom preferred the older D.III.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was particularly critical of the new aircraft. In a July 1917 letter, he described the D.V as "so obsolete and so ridiculously inferior to the English that one can't do anything with this aircraft." British tests of a captured D.V revealed that the aircraft was slow to maneuver, heavy on the controls, and tiring to fly.

Albatros responded with the D.Va, which featured stronger wing spars, heavier wing ribs, and a reinforced fuselage.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien][Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

The D.Va also reverted to the D.III's aileron cable linkage, running outwards through the lower wing, then upwards to the ailerons, to provide a more positive control response.

The wings of the D.III and D.Va were in fact interchangeable.

The D.Va was also fitted with a small diagonal brace connecting the lower section of the forward [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to the leading edge of the lower wing.

These modifications made the D.Va 23 kg (50 lb) heavier than the D.III, while failing to entirely cure the structural problems of the type.

Use of the high-compression 130 kW (180 hp) Mercedes D.IIIaü engine offset the increased weight of the D.Va.

Idflieg placed orders for 262 D.Va aircraft in August 1917, followed by additional orders for 250 in September and 550 in October.

Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke, which had been engaged in production of the D.III, received orders for 600 D.Va aircraft in October.

Deliveries of the D.Va commenced in October 1917.

^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]} The structural problems of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the mediocre performance of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] left the Luftstreitkräfte with no viable alternative to the D.Va until the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] entered service in the summer of 1918. Production ceased in April 1918.As of May 1918, 131 D.V and 928 D.Va aircraft were in service on the Western Front.

This number declined as the Albatros was replaced by Fokker D.VIIs and other types during the final months of the war, but the D.Va remained in use until the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (11 November 1918).

Survivors and modern reproductions


Today, two D.Va aircraft survive in museums. Serial D.7161/17 is displayed at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in Washington D.C., and serial D.5390/17 is displayed at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in Canberra, Australia.

A small number of Albatros D.V reproductions have been constructed in recent years.

One of the most notable flyable examples, finished in the colors of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], is operated by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

It is powered by a modified six-cylinder [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engine, fitted after the original liquid-cooled [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engine sheared its crankshaft.