British Albatros Scouts

By: David Fleming

Introduction

The Albatros single seat scouts were amongst the most attractive fighters of the Great War (Although I still think the Pfalz DIII is nicer !). Add to that the colourful individual and Jasta markings applied, and you can see why they are so popular with modellers. It's no surprise that the Albatros family were chosen for the first WW1 list Cook-Up

Although I normally build aircraft used by the British forces, one of my favourite areas is 'captured' aircraft. So my contribution to the Cook-up had to be an RFC Albatros. But which one? My choice was fairly easy, as the opportunity presented itself to build an aircraft with a Scottish connection as well!! (Another theme of mine) More of this one later!!

But at the same time, I also put together quite a bit of information on other British Albatros Scouts, most of which will make their way across my work bench in the course of time.

It seemed a shame to waste this info, so I've submitted it so that there is a little piece of the Albatros Cook Up site that is forever British !! Hopefully this will encourage others to do Albatri with cockades rather than crosses !!

The Aircraft

The nature of war has always involved the capture and evaluation of your enemy's equipment. The advent of the aeroplane proved no different. Throughout the Great War, both sides flew a variety of aircraft in markings which don't immediately spring to mind when you think of that type.

Examples of all the production variants of the Albatros 'D' scouts appeared in British markings. From a modeller's point of view, even better is the fact that most of these had different colours and markings.

Unless where noted, the colour interpretations are my own, and I would welcome any comments/corrections.

DI 391/16

Actually one of the 12 pre-production DIs, 391/16 was captured in December 1916. This aircraft was extensively tested by the British, and a fairly comprehensive series of detail drawings appeared in 'Flight' magazine of 28^th April 1917 (reproduced in reference (4)). The 'Flight' article also has a number of photos of the aircraft in it's British markings, which had involved an almost complete repaint. The aircraft would not look out of place in a line up of RFC fighters.

Uppersurfaces: PC10 overall

Lower surfaces: the early DIs had CDL flying surfaces, and I think 391 would have retained these.

Metal panels: Battleship grey

Markings: Full set of RFC roundels, along with the serial on the fin in 'British' style - i.e. black with white outline, in the style favoured by the Royal Aircraft factory at Farnborough with an apostrophe - D'391/1.

British style instrument probe on starboard wing strut.

DII

Somewhat more enigmatic, this particular aircraft appears (I think) in both reference (3) p21 and (5) p12. Ref (3) suggests that this may be the aeroplane given the UK serial G33, but beyond that there is little to identify it. Ref (3) also suggests this a/c has an overall uppersurface of PC10, whereas in (5) it is obviously still in German markings. Also, in (3), a camouflage scheme can be made out on the upper wing. So what colours was this aircraft ? My theory is as follows:

Research by D S Abbott has suggested that the various batches of DII aircraft followed a set pattern. Taking the upper demarcation visible on the Datafile picture, the only one of DSA's plans which match are those for LVG built Albatros DIIs. This would give the aircraft in German service a scheme of dull green/light green/red brown on the wing upper surfaces, varnished plywood fuselage and pale green (?) under wings. The photos in the In Action book may be this scheme with UK roundels & fin marks.

The Datafile photos were obviously taken at a different time, and it maybe that the airframe had been given a coat of PC10 on it's uppersurfaces. The fuselage certainly appears darker. Streaky PC10 over the above anyone ?

Finally, this aircraft is an early DII with side mounted radiators.

DIII 636/17

So far, I have only been able to find photos of one DIII with RFC markings. 636/17 was shot down by 111 Squadron, RFC, then repaired and flown by no 1 Squadron, AFC. I found some photos on the Australian War Museum site. These show the progression of the a/c from capture to repainting (and replacement of it's wheels with RFC ones). The only one this did not included was a 'final' photo showing it with RFC roundels on the upper wings ! However, it may be that this never happened !

I'm not sure of colours at the moment, other than the usual plywood fuselage. Possibly one of the three colour camouflage schemes may have been applied.

For other possible D IIIs, see below !!

DV 1162/17 G56

Possibly my favourite captured Albatros, and my cook-up model, G56 was a former Jasta 4 aircraft, which was extensively tested and flown in the UK. For this reason, there are quite a few photos of this aircraft in circulation. It is also profiled in both Windsock Datafiles (2) (4). A very clear photo appeared in Aeroplane Monthly magazine, November 1995. There are a couple of photos on the AWM archive, mislabelled as a DIII.

This plethora of references was not necessarily an advantage ! There are a number of discrepancies between the profile in the DFs and photos which didn't make sense until I got hold of a copy of Cross & Cockade International Vol 20/4, which had an excellent article by Stuart Leslie and Mick Davis on the markings of this aircraft (Thanks Andy !)

This revealed that the aircraft had been repaired and repainted whilst in British hands, and therefore made sense of the discrepancies. Schemes were:

1) At St Omer when first captured, the aircraft has essentially it's German markings, with British roundels on white panels over the crosses, rudder stripes and a small 'G56' on the rudder. German colours of Green/mauve upper wing uppersurfaces, green lower wings, pale blue wing undersides, dirty yellow tail unit (fin, top & bottom tailplane), bright yellow spinner & green-grey metal parts, struts etc. Fuselage was varnished plywood. Black spiral fuselage stripe.

2) In the UK, the fuselage was sanded down & revarnished. This removed the dirty yellow from the fin and tailplanes (which was my biggest puzzle). Nose panels were still green-grey, but struts, access panels etc were now PC-10 (Another puzzle solved !). Wing & tailplane upper surfaces were PC-10, lower wing surfaces were clear doped linen. The spinner may also be another colour (related to a change of engine). The stripe on the rear fuselage also changed position slightly after a repair at Martlesham Heath. The G56 marking was now much bigger. 'My' Albatros is in this later scheme.

Instrument probe on port strut.

NB - This aircraft has been erroneously listed as D2129/17 in some publications.

DV 2359/17 G144

This one also appears in quite a few photos, although not always identified as such. Either that, or more than one Jasta 23 DV was captured. I doubt that, as the lozenge pattern on the rudder matches in all the photos !! I found one on the AWM site, which also appears in (6) labelled as a DIII. Bob Pearson has a profile of a Jasta 23 DV on one of his sites which is also useful.

Why is this important ? The RFC appear to have incorporated the Jasta 23 tail marking into the rudder stripes added after capture. The Jasta marking involved a white stripe on the tailplane/fin, with narrow dark bands either side on the tail & forward on the fin. The rudder/fuselage forward of this was also a dark colour (possibly green ?). Now the narrow band may have been black or they may have been red - on the rudder striped pictures, the shade is identical to the red of the stripe. The RFC rudder stripes themselves extend on to the fuselage (but not the tailplane) for the blue (forward) stripe, but across the tail on the red (rear) stripe ON the port side only - I have a shot of the starboard side which shows the red on the fin only (Other than that thin stripe). The dark fuselage appears to have been sanded off forward of the fin.

Photos of this aircraft appear in Reference (2). One important point that this makes is that the upper wing (5 colour ?) lozenge was applied SPANWISE on the port side and CHORDWISE on the starboard. Lozenge was also applied to the tailplanes & fin. The latter retained part of it's cross in outline in the RFC scheme. Roundels were applied as usual - those on the uppersurface appear to be standard without outlines.

Instrument probe on port strut.

DV 4545/17 G97

The best photos of this Albatros appear in (5), which clearly show the 5 colour lozenge, outlined roundels and rudder stripes ON THE RUDDER !! This aircraft had a painted nose, the demarcation of which went back as far as the cockpit. This is clearly shown in a photo in (6). This may be the grey-green applied to the nose, or another colour. It is quite light (maybe even a dirty white), but we all know the tricks ortho film can play. Anyone know the colour of the noses of Jasta 24 DVs ?

British instrument probe is on the starboard strut.

DVa 5390/17 G101

Possibly the second most famous Albatros after 'Stropp', this is of course the aircraft now in the Australian War Museum. For a detailed explanation of the colours it carried, I can do no better than point you to Cameron's cook-up page. Other than that, a picture of this aircraft in Britain with RFC markings appears in Air Enthusiast no 47. Standard RFC roundels with outlines, and fin/rudder striping. This one is next on my list !!

DV/DVa Tropical

One I'm still trying to find more about !! It appears in a history of 111 Squadron RAF (RFC), and was captured in Palestine. It has the twin radiators often found on Albatros fighters in the Middle East, and RFC rudder stripes. More if I get it !!

The 'Missing' Albatros !!

The RFC in Europe applied, for intelligence purposes, numbers in a series beginning with 'G' to enemy aircraft which were 'obtained'. These did not always refer to complete aircraft, indeed sometimes were issued to piles of wreckage in no-mans land. Some were applied to airframes which were acquired, but never took up British markings. Usually, only the flying' ones carried their 'G numbers.

That said, a lot of Albatros fighters which are not mentioned above were given 'G' numbers. In the hope that at least some of them carried British markings (Some were definitely flown), and that others may have more info, I have included a list of these below. In addition, there is also the possibility that some of the other Albatros Scouts captured in Palestine may have been given British markings.

DI

410/16 G17 A photo of this one in German markings appears in (4)

DII

473/16 G32

910/16 G14

DIII

771/17 G30

796/16 G39

1942/16 G20

1990/16 G10

2012/16 G18

2015/16 G42 Flown with engine from G39

2234/16 G21

DV

G151

2284/17 G75

2356/17 G100

4422/17 G134

4495/17 G138

4879/17 AG3

5253/17 G90

DVa

5253/17 G90

5734/17 G159

Contact

If you have any questions, or more information on any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me at dave.fleming@dial.pipex.com

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Andy Kemp, Robert Karr, Steve Perry and Cameron Riley for their assistance in putting the above information together.

Key References