Mercedes D.III

D.III
DIIIa engine on display at the MTU Aero Engines museum, Munich
Type	Inline piston engine
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Mercedes
First run	1914
Developed from	Mercedes D.II
Developed into	Mercedes D.IV Mercedes D.VI

The Mercedes D.III, or F1466 as it was known internally, was a six-cylinder SOHC valvetrain liquid-cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler and used on a wide variety of German aircraft during World War I.^[1] The initial versions were introduced in 1914 at 120 kW (160 hp), but a series of changes improved this to 130 kW (170 hp) in 1917, and 130 kW (180 hp) by mid-1918. These later models were used on almost all late-war German fighters, and its only real competition, the BMW III, was available only in very limited numbers. Compared to the Allied engines it faced, the D.III was generally outdated.