For WW1 lovers - Albatros D.III (Oeffag) series 253 (Preview)

[lucas81]

Hello,

I am not so active in the FS World just like, let's say, two or three years ago. I had to take some break and also I have started playing Rise of Flight which is my favourite sim. However there was a project which was started by my friend and myself few years ago. That was a model of Albatros D.III made under license in Austro Hungary. The original Albatros D - series was a German plane. Because it was a very good design - the German Ally - Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to purchase a license and started to built in the company called Oeffag. Their version had several modifications and in 1918 it became the best Austro-Hungarian scout which had top speed around 200 kph and could climb to 5000 meters in about 20 minutes. Powered by 225HP Austro-Daimler engine designed by Ferdinand Porsche it was a very dangerous adversary for the Entente squadrons on the Italian Front.

The original model was created about 3 years ago. Year ago, she received brand new cockpit and some corrections to the external model. Although simple to manage, it has few "goodies" like working hand pump to pressurise fuel tank, tank switcher, pressure selectors and correct aircraft instruments. An engine cover can be used in winter to protect the engine from overcooling. Those small goodies would not be possible without help from some good souls from the PL FS Community.
Those are only some preview shots. The plane still needs some adjustments...
Enjoy!

Lucas

[lucas81]

Some more...

[Daube]

Wow, the cockpit looks fantastic, and the exterior model isn't bad at all !

[peter12213]

These look fantasic! I love the WW1 era aircraft!

[Roger]

Wow...looks fabulous Lucas:applause:

[rwmarth]

That is looking fantastic!

[beana51]

Looks Real Great,at OLD RHINEBECK N. y. a real crowd pleaser,.... Baron von Richthofen was famous for his red triplane, but he actually scored more victories with Albatros aircraft. In the Spring of 1917...Thanx Much!...Fine JOB!!

[lucas81]

Thank you very much for your kind words!
Beana, this is NOT original German Albatros, which was flown by Manfred von Richthofen, but the license built model manufactured in Austro-Hungary. She had some real changes in the airframe including different cowling, engine (225HP instead of 160/180HP) radiator, armement (8mm machineguns instead of 7.92mm). What is the most important, the Austrian engineers solved the problem with weak lower wings which were falling off on the high G loads in the German version.

Lucas

[Walter]

Thank you very much for your kind words!
Beana, this is NOT original German Albatros, which was flown by Manfred von Richthofen, but the license built model manufactured in Austro-Hungary. She had some real changes in the airframe including different cowling, engine (225HP instead of 160/180HP) radiator, armement (8mm machineguns instead of 7.92mm). What is the most important, the Austrian engineers solved the problem with weak lower wings which were falling off on the high G loads in the German version.

Lucas

Some interesting facts! It looks great!

Walter

[Bomber_12th]

This looks absolutely superb, inside and out, Lucas!! I love the history behind this particular variant as well.

[mikezola]

Very nice job, Lucas- That's an interesting paint scheme on the wings in the first set of screenshots... I don't recall ever seeing it before...

-Mike Z.

[lucas81]

Austro-Hungarian WW1 planes are a very interesting subject for anyone making repaints. The one which you mentioned the sworl cammo, was printed and then applied on the wing ribs. It is pretty psychodelical, but I think that it is inspired by the art from that time. It is a very unique one and I just "had" to make such a repaint :)
Some other A-H cammos were painted using a sponge on the factory fresh plane.
Again, thank you for kind words and I am very happy that you like the plane!

L.

[Sundog]

It's good to see some more WWI era planes for FSX. Thank you!!

[Walter]

It's good to see some more WWI era planes for FSX. Thank you!!

+1 :mixedsmi:

[beana51]

Thanx Lucas...I would think the Baron would have liked this model....What with those improvements? Wing not falling off?...he would have been unstoppable!....But alas it was a lowly "GRUNT" that did the great Hero in !...Cheers to ya!...Vin:wavey:

[lucas81]

Vin,
of course it "could" be lost, but the structure was greatly improved over the original German version.
The next version of the original Albatros D.III was D.V and later D.Va. The German engineers at Albatros wanted to decrease the weight by reworking the whole fuselage to be more eliptical. However, the D.V was not an improvement over the D.III and even it was worse in some of the parameters, like climb ratio. The problems with the lower wings still existed and this is why the strenghtened D.Va version was relased. Still, it was marginal improvement.

On the other side, Austrian engineers at Oeffag managed to strenght those lower wings and they were constantly increasing the weight of the plane. But they were installing more and more powerful engines as well. The standard German Albatroses had Mercedes D.III engine family reaching 160 HP (D.I, D.II and early D.III versions), 180HP (D.III OAW-built improved version and D.V) and finally high compression 200HP au version (D.Va model). Austro-Hungarian models had 180HP engine from the initial batch. Later series, the 153, received 200HP engine and final one which is shown here, got 225HP engine which made her a very powerful plane. They were also faster (200 kph compared to 170-185 kph) and climbed better (20 minutes to 5000 meters compared to almost 40 minutes when speaking about D.Va version! - almost double!)

It is also worth mentioning that the Austrian-built Albatros received totally different cockpit. For example - the throttle was mounted on the right side of the cokcpit, so pilot had to operate yoke by the left hand. The machineguns had to be fired on certain RPM values, otherwise the prop could be shot-off or damaged.
We were very lucky that there is a flyable Oeffag replica in Austria which was built by Mr. Koloman Mayrhofer. She is equipped with the original 225HP Austro-Dailmler engine and some instruments. The detail is stunning and the pictures and some informations from the constructor were very valuable while we were making this model. The problem is - you do not have such great documentation when compared to some WW2 Warbird. Sometimes it is guessing, sometimes using some analogy to other model...

Lucas

[italoc]

Hi Lucas,
Looks beautiful: will it be Prepar3D compatible ??
Italo

[lucas81]

Italo,
if the regular FSX models compiled with the FSX SP-2/Acceleration toolkit work in the Prepar 3D, I think that she will work there as well.

Lucas

[trucker17]

Italo,
if the regular FSX models compiled with the FSX SP-2/Acceleration toolkit work in the Prepar 3D, I think that she will work there as well.

Lucas

Its looking great....When will it be available?

[stiz]

duuno how i missed this!! been waiting for it since you posted WIPs way back !!! :jump::jump: :jump: :applause: :applause:

[lucas81]

Hey Stiz,
I knew that you will like her :) By the way - I saw couple of years ago that you were working on Gotha and B.E.2c... :)
Trucker, I am not sure when the plane will be ready - perhaps a month or two ? It depends on free time, but it is very close to be finished.