After the great success of the D.I/II Albatros family on the Western Front, Austro-Hungarian
aviation wanted to have these birds for their Fliks too. A license was purchased,
and after a few months, production of AH Albatros D.II started in the Oeffag factory
in Wiener-Neustadt. The prototype, marked 53.01 hit the air for the first time
in January 1917. D.II (Oef) was an example of the creativeness of the Austrian
engineers - equipped with a strong 185 hp Austro-Daimler engine covered by a metal
cowling, with increased wing chord (to 170 cm) and armament installed inside the
fuselage - it was a better plane than its German original. Fliegerarsenal ordered
50 planes, but finally accepted only 15 (53.02-16), as in Germany there appeared
an even better version - the Albatros D.III, which was offered to the Austro-Hungarians
too. Those D.II fuselages remaining in the factory were used for D.III planes.
D.II (Oef) appeared over the front in May 1917, and in 19. June Flik 24 pilot
Julius Kovalczik shot down over Cima Maura an Italian Caudron. Interestingly,
that first D.II's aerial victory was scored by the first serial number of the
D.II (Oef); Kovalczik's plane was 53.02.
Source: T. Goworek, Pierwsze samoloty mysliwskie lotnictwa polskiego, Warszawa
1991)