Albatros D.I

The Albatros D.I was an early German fighter aircraft built by Albatros Flugzeugwerke and the first of the Albatros D types that equipped most German and Austrian fighter squadrons in the last two years of the First World War. Designed by Robert Thelen, R. Schubert and Gnädig as an answer to Allied fighters such as the Nieuport 11 Bébé and the Airco D.H.2, it had a then-radical semi-monocoque fuselage and a six-cylinder water-cooled inline engine, and could carry twin fixed Spandau machine guns without losing much performance. It was ordered into production in June 1916 and entered service two months later, but no more than 50 were built before the near-identical D.II, with a repositioned upper wing for better pilot visibility, overtook it.