Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German airforces during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The company was based in Johannisthal,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1909. The company (and its subsidiary, Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW)) produced some of the most capable

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

of World War I, notably the Albatros D.III and

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatros ...

, both designed by Robert Thelen for the firm. The works continued to operate until 1931, when it was merged into

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

History

The company was founded in Berlin-Johannisthal the end of 1909 by Enno Walther Huth as Albatros Werke AG. The first aircraft the company produced was a French Antoinette monoplane, which they built under licence. They then produced several versions of the Etrich Taube monoplane, as well the Doppeltaube biplane which used the same basic planform. A variety of other biplanes, with more conventional wing planforms were also built and flown. In 1912 five Albatros F-2 were built. This was a development of the French Farman III biplane (hence the letter F) with a gondola for the crew and an Argus in-line engine instead of the original

Gnome A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

rotary engine. Four were sold to Bulgaria and they took an active part in the 1912-1913

Balkan wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...

. On October 16, 1912 one of these carried out the first combat mission over Europe.I.Borislavov, R.Kirilov: ''The Bulgarian Aircraft, Vol.I: From Bleriot to Messerschmitt''. Litera Prima, Sofia, 1996 (in Bulgarian) During

Albatros Flugzeugwerke produced about 10,300 aircraft.

Aircraft

References

External links

The Virtual Aviation Museum
{{Albatros aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany Manufacturing companies based in Berlin Manufacturing companies established in 1909 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1931 1909 establishments in Germany 1931 disestablishments in Germany Companies of Prussia