Albatros D.II

It was an improved version of the Albatros D.I. With the end of the year 1916, the increasing production of the Albatros gave to Germany an undeniable superiority in the sky. Contemporary of the Halberstadt D.II and the Fokker D.I/II, it was more sturdy and climbed faster. However the first batch of fighters still had room to improvement, thus the Albatros D.II was born.

As the second generation of the design, incorporated several improvements learned from combat operations in the D.I. The wing was lowered to give the pilot better upward visibility and the cabane structure was changed for a better, more conventional arrangement. Jasta 2, commanded by the famous ace Oswald Boelcke, was the first unit to achieve great success with the D.II. Boelcke hand picked his pilots and trained them in his tactics. Unfortunately, on October 26, 1916, Lt. Bohme's crashed into Boelcke's upper wing tip and the german ace was killed in the crash. Until January 1917 approximately 275 Albatros D.IIs flew in the German Air Service.