The Red Baron’s real fighter

Germany’s iconic World War I Red Baron, the 80 victory ace Manfred von Richthofen, flew and died in probably the most iconic airplane of that war, the Fokker Dr. 1, better known as the Fokker Triplane. But, in fact, the Red Baron scored less than a quarter of his victories in the Triplane — must were scored in Albatros Werke Company’s Albatros fighters.

The Albatros fighters were designed as an answer to the highly maneuverable rotary engine Allied fighters, such as the French Nieuport 11 and the British DH.2, which had proved superior to the Fokker Eindecker and established Allied air superiority.

The first Albatros, the D.I was a far cry from these rotary engined and fabric-skinned box-type fuselage fighters. It had an aerodynamically clean, shark-like fuselage made of light, but strong, paneled plywood and was powered by a six-cylinder water cooled inline engine, either a 150 horsepower Benz Bz. III or a 160 horsepower Mercedes.

This additional power enabled the D.I to carry two fixed Spandau 7.62 millimeter machine guns without any loss in performance, giving it twice the firepower of any fighter in the air. It was also faster and had a higher service ceiling, though it was heavier and less maneuverable.

 The D.I was ordered in June 1916 and introduced into squadron service that August. It brought a new era to fighter combat, one where speed and altitude performance — later called “energy fighters” — and heavy firepower was pitted against light weight and maneuverability.

The D.I was followed by the slightly modified D.II, and the D.IIs formed part of the initial equipment of Jagdstaffel (Jasta) 2, the first specialized fighter squadron in the German air service with such pilots as Boelcke and Richthofen.

Albatros introduced a truly changed model, the D.III, in the late summer of 1916. The D.III utilized the same fuselage but had a new wing similar to French Nieuport. The arrangement, called a “sesquiplane,” had an extended upper wing and redesigned, much thinner lower wing with “V” struts.

The D.IIIs entered squadron service in December 1916, and the sesquiplane arrangement offered improved climb, maneuverability and downward visibility.
Richthofen was then given command of a new unit of D.IIIs, Jagdstaffel (fighter squadron) 11, and there his Albatros D.III was painted bright red and he first earned his name and reputation.

But the new aircraft soon began experiencing failures of the lower wing ribs and leading edge, including a crack in the lower wing of Richthofen’s aircraft on Jan. 24, 1917.

On Jan. 27, all D.IIIs were grounded until Albatros introduced a reinforced lower wing in late February, and pilots were advised not to perform steep or prolonged dives in the D.III. But once back flying, the D.IIIs won back air superiority with their high speed and heavy armament. They were so successful that April 1917 was called “Bloody April” by the Allied air forces. The wing failures continued and were attributed to poor workmanship and materials at one factory, but the real cause was the sesquiplane arrangement. The main spar was located too far aft causing the wing to twist under aerodynamic loads.

In April 1917, Albatros received an order for an improved version of the D.III, the D. V, which closely resembled the D.III and had the same engine.

The most notable difference was a lighter new fuselage, but the wing was identical to those of the standard D.III, At that time, technological superiority only lasted a matter of months, or even weeks, and by May 1917 new Allied types superior to the D.III were appearing in numbers.

The German Jagdstaffeln received the D.V in May 1917, and with some dismay realized the new Albatros D.V was little better than its predecessor. Like the D.III before it, the D.V immediately began experiencing structural failures of the lower wing and furthermore, it offered very little improvement in performance.

In October 1917, Albatros responded with the D.Va, which had stronger wing spars, heavier wing ribs, a reinforced fuselage and new control linkage to provide a more positive control response. But these modifications only made the D.Va heavier while failing to cure the structural problems.

All this happened while new and improved British and French fighters arrived in ever increasing numbers at the front, and this caused considerable anger among German pilots, many of whom preferred the older D.III.

In a letter Richthofen described the D.V as “so obsolete and so ridiculously inferior to the English that one can’t do anything with this aircraft.”

Richthofen was wounded in October 1917 flying his D. V, and when he returned from convalescence he flew the Fokker Dr. I triplane. But the Dr. 1 had problems of its own and was only a stopgap, still inferior to the Allied Spads, Camels and SE-5as.

Sadly for the German fighter pilots, they had to fly the Albatros until almost the end of the war, when they were gradually — but not completely — replaced by the Fokker D. VII.

(For questions or comments, e-mail Dr. Michel at  marshall.michel@spangdahlem.af.mil)