Osprey - Duel 42 - DH 2 vs Albatros D I-D II. Western Front 1916.pdf

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DH 2

ALBATROS D I/D II

Western Front 1916

JAMES F. MILLER

DH 2

ALBATROS D I/D II

Western Front 1916

JAMES F. MILLER

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chronology

Design and Development

Technical Specifications

The Strategic Situation

The Combatants

Combat

Statistics and Analysis

Aftermath

Further Reading

Index

INTRODUCTION

While modern air forces employ time-tested, combat-proven tactics and decades-old

aeroplanes designed on well understood aeronautical principles and built with ample

time for testing and refining, air forces of World War I were literally writing the book

on tactics and aeroplane design as dictated by the current state of the war. Indeed,

throughout the conflict a perpetual reactionary arms race existed to counter and

hopefully conquer the enemy’s latest aeroplane technology. Nowhere was this more

evident than with single-seat scouts.

Better known today as ‘fighter aeroplanes’, single-seat scouts were born as a direct

result of two-seater aerial reconnaissance and artillery observation. Such infantry

cooperation aeroplanes were crucial for the furtherance of army strategic and tactical

planning for ground force success. This was particularly the case on the static Western

Front, where trench-based warfare throttled any cavalry-based reconnaissance.

Without exaggeration, two-seater photographic reconnaissance was as important in

World War I as satellites are today.

Naturally, it became desirable for all combatants not only to amass as much

intelligence as possible via two-seater excursions over the frontlines but to

simultaneously prevent the enemy from achieving the same. This begat two-seater

crews arming themselves for aerial interception of their belligerent counterparts, but

soon single-seat ‘scouts’ were developed to use speed to dash quickly over the lines,

conduct a specific observation, and then quickly regain the lines. However, both

sides realised that single-seat scouts provided an effective means with which to hunt

and shoot down enemy reconnaissance aeroplanes, as well as to protect their own

reconnaissance types from similar treatment. A natural result of these tactical

implementations was scout-versus-scout combat – the ‘fighter aeroplane’ and

‘dogfighting’ were born.

However, the superiority pendulum swung without equality as each side strove to

counter what the enemy already possessed. The Germans struck first with their Fokker

Eindeckers, armed with a single Maxim machine gun that was synchronised to fire

through the propeller arc. Not necessarily an extremely nimble aeroplane – it did not

have to be when pursuing sluggish two-seater reconnaissance types such as the Royal

Aircraft Factory (RAF) BE 2c – the monoplane’s armament and speed (approximately

88mph compared to the BE 2c’s modest 69mph at 10,000ft) allowed it to plunder

Allied reconnaissance machines. This in turn gave rise to the legendary ‘Fokker

Scourge’ description given to German air superiority over the Western Front from

late 1915 through to early 1916.

As yet the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France and Russia) had no reliable

synchronisation gear with which to counter the new threat. However, the single-seat

French Nieuport 11 ‘Bebe’ soon appeared with a single Lewis machine gun mounted

atop the upper wing that fired

over

the propeller arc, bypassing the need for propeller

synchronisation.

The British answer to the problem was to employ the ‘pusher’ aeroplane concept

– i.e. locate the engine behind the cockpit to allow the pilot freedom to fire a machine

gun forward without any interference from the propeller. This arrangement had

previously been used in two-seaters such as the Farman F 40 and RAF FE 2b, but the

Aircraft Manufacturing Company’s DH 2 was the first single-seat pusher designed

specifically for air-to-air interdiction.

Now equipped with fighters that were as fast and more nimble than the German

monoplanes and, crucially, available in greater numbers, the Entente had once again

No. 24 Sqn DH 2s 6000

(left) and 5925 (right) at

Bertangles in July 1916 –

note 5925’s slightly lower

nacelle front. This aircraft was

one of three DH 2s involved

in an epic clash with

Jasta

that saw the loss of No. 24

Sqn CO Maj Lanoe Hawker.

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