Albatros D.V

After the D.III came the D.IV with an experimental Mercedes engine but it proved problematic and never entered production. Therefore the next production version was the D.V.

Early in 1917 the Allies began to field a new generation of high-performance fighters, and to meet this threat Albatross responded with a drag-reduced development of it’s current D.III fighter featuring a deeper oval-section fuselage, a head rest (often removed as it interfered with the pilot’s rearward view), reduction of the gap between the top of the fuselage and the upper wing, revision of the rudder, a different aileron-control system, and a larger spinner that provided a better entry line for the elegantly streamlined fuselage.

The new D.V entered service in May 1917 and was soon joined by the slightly different D.Va. The D.Va featured the upper wing and aileron control system of the D.III. Total production figures no longer exist, but more than 1,000 examples of the two similar variants were in service during May 1918 over the Western, Italian and Palestinian fronts. Despite its aerodynamic refinement over the D.III, the D.V was no real match for the best of the Allied fighters, and the major production program can only be construed as an effort to beat quality with quantity. Losses to Allied fighters were heavy, and the type also suffered a heavy accident rate as the lower wing had an alarming tendancy to break away in highly stressed maneuvers.

The D.V was in service in Austria-Hungary, Germany and Turkey.

Albatross DVa for CSF2 by Stuart Green

Albatros D.Va in the colors of Germany's "Black Knight" Hauptman Eduard Ritter von Schleich, Commanding Officer of Jasta 21. These colors also appear on the replica D.Va at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Model by Stuart Green, repaint by Jonathan Fallon