ALBATROS J1

The Albatros JI was a German-made attack aircraft from World War I and the interwar period, of mixed construction, with a fixed landing gear, in a biplane configuration. The drive was provided by a single engine Benz Bz. IV with 200 HP. The first flight of this machine took place in 1917. In the years 1917-1919 serial production took place, which led to the creation of about 240 aircraft of this type. The deck armament consisted of three Spandau LMG 08/15 machine guns and a 7.92 mm Parabellum machine gun. The Albatros JI was developed at the request of the German armed forces, which in 1917 were looking for an infantry support aircraft and an attack aircraft. The Albatros Flugzeugwerke company, responding to this order, relied on many proven solutions used in the Albatros C.XII when creating the new machine. However, the Albatros JI aircraft uses a truss structure, a rectangular fuselage section and added armor made of 5 mm thick sheets. The JI Albatross entered the line in the second half of 1917 and was considered a fairly successful machine. Its biggest drawback was the lack of armor in the engine compartment. At the beginning of 1919, several (about 10) aircraft of this type were seized by the troops of the reborn Poland. Probably two of them were used in the Polish-Bolshevik war of 1919-1921. In 1921, they were withdrawn from Polish aviation.