albatros

Well known picture of an Albatros B.III. The abbreviation in bold letters [R.M.A.] is short for Reichs Marine Amt . The small S.171 denotes that this is Schulflugzeug (training aircraft) 171. This specific machine (S.171) was accepted by the German navy on 3 August 1915. By the way there is no special naval version of an Albatros B.III, but just a B.III flown by the German navy.

The single Albatros C.XIV which appeared in spring 1918. Probably a private venture where several design features new to Albatros were incorporated, like the staggered wings. It was also smaller than the earlier C.X and C.XII designs. This single C.XIV was modified later into the C.XV. The C.XIV was probably never acquired by the German army, so no serial was allotted and the C.XIV is somewhat suspicious. After the war the Albatros firm identified most of their designs with an L followed by a number, for a publication of a commemoration book. The elusive C.XIV was identified as L 31, as said an identity never used during WW1, as was probably C.XIV.

This picture shows the amphibian version of the Albatros Renn-Eindecker (RE) - German for racing monoplane. This floatpplane version had wheels which could be retracted. As prescribed in the rules of the German Bodensee seaplane contest 1913 the machines had to start from land and land on water. Hence this amphibian construction. The name of the Albatros firm can just be seen in the biggest scan on the side of the fuselage. The design of this machine was by the young and brilliant Ernst Heinkel, then chief designer of Albatros. A good way to identify this machine is Albatros Racing Monoplane (1913) - Amphibian construction (Ernst Heinkel design)