| Albatros D.I | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Albatros Flugzeugwerke |
| Designer | Robert Thelen |
| Primary user | Luftstreitkräfte |
| Number built | 50 |
| History | |
| Introduction date | August 1916 |
| Developed into | Albatros D.II Albatros W.4 |
The Albatros D.I was an early fighter aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Albatros Flugzeugwerke. It was the first of the Albatros D types which equipped the majority of the German and Austrian fighter squadrons (Jagdstaffeln) for the last two years of the First World War. Despite this, the D.I had a relatively brief operational career, having been rapidly eclipsed by rapid advances in fighter aircraft.
The D.I was designed by Robert Thelen, R. Schubert and Gnädig, as an answer to the latest Allied fighters, such as the Nieuport 11 Bébé and the Airco D.H.2, which had proved superior to the Fokker Eindecker and other early German fighters, and established a general Allied air superiority. It featured a then-radical semi-monocoque fuselage design that was paired with a relatively powerful six-cylinder water cooled inline engine. Unlike the majority of preceding aircraft, the D.I could be armed with twin fixed Spandau machine-guns without incurring a meaningful performance loss.
The D.I was ordered into production during June 1916 and introduced into service with the Luftstreitkräfte only two months later. While not being a particularly maneuverable aircraft even at the time of its introduction, the aircraft proved to be effective in combat, largely due to its superior speed and firepower over most contemporary military aircraft. Despite its success, no more than 50 D.Is were ever produced, having been rapidly eclipsed by the Albatros D.II, which was broadly identical in terms of its design save for the repositioning of the upper wing to be less of a hinderance to pilot visibility.