History of AirplanesThe Aviatik B. II was a reconnaissance aircraft widely used by the Germans and Austrians before 1916. Built by the Oesterreichische-Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik of Vienna, it developed from the Aviatik B.I produced by the German company Automobil Aviatik und Leipzig between 1914 and 1915.
The Austrian B.II (Series 32) produced in small numbers in 1915 was powered [...]
Fielded in 1916, the Hansa-Brandenburg D.I was a transitional aircraft of German design but Austrian manufacture. Its stability and visibility were so bad that the pilots called it ‘The Coffin.’ Altogether, about 200 were produced by Phönix and UFAG.
From its unusual appearance, Allied pilots called it the “Star Strutter.”
Top Speed: 116 m.p.h.
Manufacturer: [...]
The Ago pursuit-type flying boat was an Austrian biplane that the Italians captured a number of. It was distinguished by a radically different type of construction in that the usual interplane struts were replaced by a spider-shaped member composed of steel tubes.
Top Speed: n.a.
Engine: six-cylinder Warskalowski motor rated at 218 h.p.
Wingspan: [...]
The machine is known as the Hansa-Brandenburg and represents the Austrian version of the German Albatross type. While designed as a reconnaissance machine, neither its speed nor its radius of action are such as to make it particularly suited for this service. It is, moreover, characterized by a number of features of design [...]
This monoplane was partticularly notable for the position of its propeller, its low center of gravity, the upturned ends of the plane, and the provision of a clutch enabling the aviator to start the motor, step into the machine, and then start the propeller. Many biplanes and monoplanes were built by M. [...]
In November, 1914, the Japanese surrounded the German outpost of Tsingtao, China. Aviator Gunther Pluschow was ordered by the Governor to escape capture to Germany.
Pluschow flew out of Tsingtao in his Rumpler Taube monoplane on a cold morning, amidst heavy anti-aircraft fire from the surrounding hills, swarming with Japanese soldiers. With a packet of [...]