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 one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The company was based in Johannisthal,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, 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 of World War I, notably the

Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service ('' Luftstreitkräfte'') during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service ( ''Luftfahrtruppen''). ...

and Albatros D.V, both designed by

Robert Thelen (''corresponding article on Robert Thelen is at German Wikipedia --> deutsch'') Robert Thelen (23 March 1884, Nürnberg - 23 February 1968, Berlin) was a German aviation pioneer and designer. He was a chief designer of Albatros Flugzeugwerke ...

for the firm. The works continued to operate until 1931, when it was merged into Focke-Wulf.

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 The Etrich ''Taube'', also known by the names of the various later manufacturers who built versions of the type, such as the Rumpler ''Taube'', was a pre-World War I monoplane aircraft. It was the first military aeroplane to be mass-produced in ...

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

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 ...

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