ALBATROS B.I

The Albatros BI was a German and Austro-Hungarian biplane reconnaissance and training aircraft from the First World War. The prototype flight took place in 1913, and serial production started shortly after. The plane was 8 meters long with a wingspan of approximately 14.5 meters. The drive was provided by a single Mercedes DI engine with 100 HP. The top speed did not exceed 105 km / h. The machine did not have a permanent on-board armament. The BI model was developed at the Albatros Flugzeugwerke aviation plant, which, incidentally, was founded in 1909 - thus the BI model was one of the first aircraft developed by this company. Despite this fact, the Albatros BI was characterized by good flight characteristics and was relatively easy to pilot. These elements quickly attracted the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force, where licensed production was started at the Phönix Flugzeug-Werke AG plant in Vienna. The presented machine served primarily in the German and Austro-Hungarian aviation in the initial stage of the Great War, but its single units were also used, among others, in Bulgaria and Poland - after 1918, of course.