History

The Albatros D.V was an attempt to lighten the Alb. D.III layout. The fuselage was given an oval cross-section. The wings profile is identical to the D.III but had aileron cables routed through the upper wing to shrouded actuating cranks. The motor was the 170 hp Merc. D IIIa In the first three months of operation the Alb.D.V was plagued with several fatal crashes due to the unmodified wings being matched with what turned out to be a heavier airframe overall. The quick fix was to add bracing wires and a small auxiliary strut to the lower front leg of the “Vee” struts. The real fix didn’t come appreciably until the lower wing spar was itself strengthened at the factory level.

Manfred von Richthofen

had specific methods for his daily operations within the command of his Jagdstaffel (Jasta) and his Geschwader (Fighter Wing). For his aircraft the special marking "red" areas were a progression that often took several days or weeks. This depended on man power and his specific orders for a specific machine. As commander he always seemed to have a primary & a reserve machine at hand.

Though he did not restrict his flights to just these. Every day several machines were on the "ready line" from each unit. And heaven help the ground crew assigned to a machine that MvR crawled into and would not start. If you could not do your job there were always plenty of slots that needed filling in the trenches.

Contents

Profile 1, represents the markings employed Albatros D.V 1177/17 in June 1917 as flown by Ritt. Manfred von Richthofen when he first became commander of JG I in the late spring and early summer months of 1917.

Profile 2, represents the markings employed Albatros D.V 2059/17, 18 - 20 August 1917 ( displayed at the "Kaiser Truppenshau") as flown by Ritt. Manfred von Richthofen after returning to duty from his hospitalization for his severe head wound.

Profile 3, represents the markings employed on an early production Albatros D.V serial unknown, flown by Ritt. Manfred von Richthofen when he received a severe head wound on 6 July 1917. It was his reserve machine.

These popular profiles have shown up individually in many past issues of 1:48 Eduard Alb. D.V kits and in many aftermarket decal sheets. (But most of these sheets are OOP).

References

The aircraft, Myths and Accomplishments of Manfred von Richthofen by J. Miller. ISBN 978-0-9555977-3-2.
Albatros Aces #33 by Greg VanWyngarden, Osprey pub. 2000.
Aircraft of the Aces #77 by Greg VanWyngarden 2007.
Albatros D.V/Va, War Horse of the Luftstreitkrafte by S.T. Lawson, SAM Pub. Model Aircraft Monthly, Vol 1 #2 , Pp.54-59.2002
Albatros D.V/Va, Part II, The Spoils of War by S.T. Lawson.
Albatros Scouts Described by Chas Schaedel, 1971 Kookaburra Tech. Pub.
Albatros Fighters Datafile Special by Ray Rimell, 1991 Albatros Pub. Ltd.
Albatros D.V by Peter Gray, 1965 Profile Pub.#9.
Albatros D.V & D.Va Described and Drawn by Ian Stair,1972 Scale Models.
Albatros D.Va German Fighter of WWI by Robert Mikesh, Smithsonian Inst. Press.
Lafayette Foundation Archive. Denver CO. USA.
Scratchbuilding Techniques by Alan Clark, 1990 Scale Models Int. Pp174-5.
Scratchbuilt Albatros D.Va by Alan Clark,1990 Scale Models Int. Pp.491-495.
'The Last Albatros' by Colin Owers 1988 Aviation News Pp.216-221.
SE 5a vs Albatros D.V, Western Front 1917-18 by j. Guttman, Osprey Pub. 2013.

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