The Hansa-Brandenburg D.I, also known as the KD (''Kampf Doppeldecker'') was a German fighter aircraft of

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 ...

. Despite poor handling characteristics it was put into service by

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, where some aircraft served until the end of the war.

Development and design

Ernst Heinkel Dr. Ernst Heinkel (24 January 1888 – 30 January 1958) was a German aircraft designer, manufacturer, '' Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' in Nazi Germany, and member of the Nazi party. His company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke produced the Heinkel He 178, th ...

chief designer of the Hansa und Brandenburgische Flugzeug-Werke developed the KD in 1916 to meet the requirements of the Austro-Hungarian

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

(''Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen ''or'' K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen''). It was a single seat, single engined

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, of wooden construction, with

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

skinning and fabric wing skins. The wings featured an unusual "Star-Strutter" arrangement of

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s, where four Vee struts joined in the centre of the wing bay to result in a "star" arrangement. The interplane struts themselves were steel tubes.Green and Swanborough 1994, p.83. The KD had a deep fuselage, which gave a poor forward view for the pilot and tended to blanket the small

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

, giving poor lateral stability and making recovery from spins extremely difficult.Gray and Thetford 1962, p.64. Armament was a single Schwarzlose

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

, which owing to difficulties in synchronising the Schwarzlose, was fitted in a fairing on the upper wing, firing over the propeller.Williams and Gustin 2003, p.62 Despite these handling problems, the aircraft was ordered by Austro-Hungary as the D.I. A total of 122 D.Is were built, with 50 built by Hansa-Brandenburg in Germany - powered by 110 kW (150 hp)

Austro-Daimler Austro-Daimler was an Austro-Hungarian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the German ''Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until 1909. Early history In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The com ...

engines - while a further 72 were built under license by Phönix in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, powered by 138 kW (185 hp) Austro-Daimler engines. While it was intended that the D.I also be built by Ufag, none were delivered.Silen, Art
IPMS Book Review: Albatros Productions, Ltd Windsock Datafile #118 Hansa Brandenburg D.1
''IPMS USA''. Retrieved 2 March 2008 The KD also formed the basis for the

Hansa-Brandenburg KDW The Hansa-Brandenburg KDW was a German single-engine, single-seat, fighter floatplane of World War I. The KDW''Kampf Doppeldecker, Wasser'' (Fighter Biplane, Water)was adapted from the Hansa-Brandenburg D.I landplane to provide coastal defenc ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

fighter.

Operational history

The D.I entered service in autumn 1916. Its unusual arrangement of interplane bracing gave rise to the nickname "Spider",Hansa-Brandenburg D.I - The Aerodrome - Aces and Aircraft of World War I
Retrieved 2 March 2008 while its poor handling gave rise to the less complementary nickname "the Coffin".Angelucci 1981, p.54. The D.I was the standard fighter aircraft of the ''Luftfahrtruppen'' until mid 1917, being used by several Austro-Hungarian air aces such as

Godwin Brumowski __NOTOC__ Godwin Karol Marian von Brumowsky (26 July 1889 – 3 June 1936) was the most successful fighter ace of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force during World War I. He was officially credited with 35 air victories (including 12 shared with ...

and

Frank Linke-Crawford Oberleutnant Frank Linke-Crawford (18 August 1893 – 30 July 1918), was the fourth-ranking ace of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force during World War I, with 27 victories. Early life He was born in Cracow, in what is presently Poland but then a pro ...

. Some Phönix built D.Is remained in use until the end of the war, being used briefly by the armed forces of The Republic of German Austria (''Republik Deutschösterreich''), where they were used to fight Yugoslav attacks on

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

.Hooton 1994, p.25-26

Operators

; * ''Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen'' *

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

; *

Republic of German Austria The Republic of German-Austria (german: Republik Deutschösterreich or ) was an unrecognised state that was created following World War I as an initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking and ethnic German population wi ...

Specifications (D.I)

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Angelucci, Enzo (ed.). ''World Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft.'' London: Jane's, 1981. . *Gray, Peter and Thetford, Owen. ''German Aircraft of the First World War''. London: Putnam, 1962. *Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York: Smithmark, 1994. . * Hooton, E.R. ''Phoenix Triumphant: The Rise and Rise of the Luftwaffe''.London: Arms & Armour Press, 1994. . * * Williams, Anthony G. and Gustin, Emmanuel. ''Flying Guns World War I''. Ramsbury, Wiltshire: Airlife, 2003. .

External links

Hansa Brandenburg D.I
{{Authority control Military aircraft of World War I 1910s German fighter aircraft D.I Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1916