OEFAG Albatros

[Olham 164]

Albatros D.III (Oef) 153.198

Flik 3J, june 1918 used by Oblt.Friedrich Navratil, who won a first victory of his unit on this plane. After a crash and reparation in august, the aircraft was flown by Stfw.Otto Forster and Kpl.August Korkisch.

 

Found here:

http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/depaul/953/kam/oef.htm

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Nice camo markings! Would be nice to have as a skin in the game.

[Olham 164]

Yes, I still hope, that the OEFAG Albatros will be available for us in OFF.

But maybe it only flew at the other fronts, not on the Western front?

[OvS 8]

Yes, I still hope, that the OEFAG Albatros will be available for us in OFF.

But maybe it only flew at the other fronts, not on the Western front?

 

Yes, the Oefag Alb only flew on the East front. I asked Pol about making one and he said it could be done, but it's way, way in the back of the shed.

 

OvS

[Hasse Wind 46]

The Oeffag (Österreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG) Albatrosses were also used on the Italian front. For example the most successful Austrian ace, Godwin Brumowski (35 confirmed kills plus many others which were not confirmed, because the planes went down behind enemy lines) used the Oeffag Albatros.

 

It was actually a better fighter than the German version, faster and more robust with stronger lower wings. Too bad for the pilots of the Luftstreitkräfte that the Germans didn't bother to learn lessons from the Austrian engineers. Maybe the D.V could have been a much better scout if the Oeffag improvements had been used in it. (Though it's a good enough scout for me in OFF, my most successful career pilot so far is using the D.V!)

[Peeppu 207]

Albatros 153.198 with engine No. 19382 was delivered in march 1918 to Flik 17, in may flew this Albatros Feldwebel Johann Skvor and after it handed over to Flik 3J.

[Peeppu 207]

The Oeffag (Österreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG) Albatrosses were also used on the Italian front.

 

 

Not only on the Italian fornt, but also on the eastern front (already in summer 1917 D.II Oeffag got to Fliks 3, 14, 20, 22, 25 and 37 in Galicia on the Russian front) and in Albania as well.

In postwar service served Albatros Oeffag in many countries (e. g. Czechoslovakia, Poland).

Edited May 23, 2009 by Peeppu

[Olham 164]

Thanks, OvS. I understand it's not important for us, as it didn't fly on the Western front.

 

Yes, Hasse Wind, it is unbelieveable, that the German production kept building the weaker versions,

instead of learning from the Austrians. It seems, that their DIII was even good enough until the end

of the war. What a fighter the D Va could have been...

[+Polovski 460]

wip 253.. yeah just for relaxation...

[Hauksbee 103]

wip 253.. yeah just for relaxation...

 

Well, that raises the bar! (LOL)

[stumpjumper 3]

bless you sniff sniff

[Olham 164]

Wow; looking great, Pol. Now we must only research for a Jasta, that got Austrian Albatros delivered

by mistake, or as a present or what ever. Or an Austrian unit operating at the western front.

If we'd just find some - like the Tripe with twin guns also was rare - that would be fantastic.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Phase 4 will have the Italian front included, right Pol? And then we get to fly that Austrian Albatros...

 

Olham, I suspect the reason why the Germans didn't learn lessons from the Austrian Oeffag may well have something to do with arrogance. It wasn't at all uncommon among German military and political circles to despise the Austrians and everything they represented, so the guys at Albatros may have thought there's nothing we can't do better than our little cousins the Austrians.

[Olham 164]

It wasn't that bad, it seems, Hasse Wind

From what I read, it was mainly IDFLIEG's failure - they had only done little testing on the new Albatros D V, and the

prototype D IV even used wings of Albatros D II. So nobody seems to have realised the weak points .

The stronger engine and higher speed of the D V made the structural weakness of the lower wing now a real danger;

at the front, first wing breaking happened. This was fatal on such a craft, and now the Germans even thought about

switching back to the production of the more stabile Albatros DIII (and maybe even to the Austrian wing solution).

 

But the "Amerikaprogramm" of the German forces requested higher production numbers of fighter craft, to catch up

with the Entente. Albatros had a production already running, and a change of the aircraft's structure and wings would

have thrown the production too far back. So stabilising changes were only made at the fields.

That was mainly a little strut from the front edge of the lower wing to the Wing strut - this was a good improvement.

Apart from that, hopes were now set on Fokker's new productions.

[+Polovski 460]

The skin is just one I plucked to check mapping etc it's not a correct skin - I leave the research and skinning to Shred and the skinners. It is for fun as it's not a huge amount of work to convert so far, and we may have no squad we can put it in anyway. We shall see.