WAR

late in 1915 the Halberstadt Aeroplane Works, of Halberstadt near Magdeburg,
had produced a single-seat scout biplane powered by the 1 00-horsepower Mercedes
engine. This aeroplane was given the official army designation of Halberstadt
D I, the "D" standing for Doppeldecker, or two-winger. The D I was
developed from the B II, an unarmed two-seater which had served purely as a
fast reconnaissance machine. The first models to reach the Front, in June 1916,
were the D II powered by the 1 20-horsepower Mercedes and the D III with a
120-horsepower Argus engine. The D II and the D III were equipped with the
Fokker interrupter gear and armed with a single fixed Spandau machine gun.
They were issued, like the Fokker Eindecker, in twos and threes to the Fliegerabteilungen,
first
as scouts and then as escorts for the two-seaters. The Halberstadt
machines were fairly strong, and this was their chief value to the pilots
since their performance was only a little better than that of the Eindecker.
During the summer of 1916 it became clear that the Eindecker was no longer
able to meet the new Allied fighters and it was gradually withdrawn. It was replaced,
however, with machines that were only a little better, while the British
and the French were flying aeroplanes that were a lot better.
Thus the German air service almost lost the advantage so handily won by
the Eindecker in 1915, and morale in some units began to sag again. It happened,
however, that at precisely this point in the game a truly revolutionary aeroplane
made its
appearance.
The Albatros Works of Johannisthal, Berlin, had accumulated considerable
experience in plywood construction. The Daimler Motor Company of Stuttgart-
Untertiirkheim had developed a superb engine, the Mercedes D III,
a water-cooled
six-cylinder engine of 160 horsepower. The Albatros D I was designed specifically
to take advantage of the Albatros company's plywood technique and the Mercedes
engine.
The Albatros D I was a revolutionary aeroplane in several respects and
merits a close examination. The wings were of conventional wood frame construction
covered with fabric, but the fuselage was semi-monocoque. In a true
monocoque form the outer shell is so rigid it requires no internal bracing, like a
mailing tube or the bodies of some modern racing cars the wheels of which are
attached directly to the body, the weight of a chassis thus being eliminated. The
semi-monocoque fuselage of the Albatros D I, and all succeeding Albatros
fighters, was formed of thin transverse plywood partitions connected by six
lengthwise strips of spruce called longerons. To this skeleton were screwed preformed
slabs of plywood. The strength and robustness of this construction made
it possible for the Albatros to absorb heavy punishment, a significant virtue in
a combat machine. The power margin of the Mercedes conferred two tactical advantages:
the aeroplane could regularly be armed with two fixed machine guns
instead of one as was standard usage, and its pilots had at their command sufficient
speed to start and break off fights when they chose.
In the summer of 1916 the Germans might have lost the edge they had won
with the Eindecker. They didn't, because they had the Albatros D I, a superb new
weapon, and because they had Oswald Boelcke to wield that new weapon.
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