Albatros D.III Oeffag Pt.I

First from the master builder Koloman Mayrhofer;

"Hallo, enclosed are some picturs from our recent progress with current projects. we are busy to build two albatros D II fuselages for a customer and a complete albatros D III as a privat venture which will be put up for sale after completion. This time we build the german version with all the details which differs from the austrian version are taken care of. there are more than it looks at the first view.

Btw my personal private project is also progressing well since the first D III Oeffag (253.01) left the shop in 2007. The next plane is structurally complete now and engine testruns were done this summer. . . Going back a bit. We built a jig from medium density fiberboard following the construction of the original in the oeffag factory. as the longerons on the of the D II and D III have a very complex shape it is absolutly necessary to have a jig which held them and the frames rigid in position. Even for only one fuselage i strongly suggest to build a solid jig. this is a completly glued up monocoque structure. There are no way to correct anything once glued. very unforgiving. The system for the German German D.V is a bit a different matter as the longerons are following the lines of the fuselage in one bend and if the frames are correctly and accuratly built will stay in correct shape. Well this is a bit simplified .

The German and Austrian versions of the D.III are quite different. there are a lot of differences of the kind you will never notice. very small details in construction of bulkheads and so on. The most noticeable difference is the fuselage length due to the different engines used, the way the plywood covering is attached and that the sizes of the cabane , Vee and landing gear struts are beefed up on austrian planes . The more serious differences between German and Austrian D III lays in the wing construction and most likely design. I am currently working over recently discovered original data and was able to study the Alb. D.Va wings in Canberra when they were uncovered. it looks that the Austrians not only changed the construction of the spars and ribs but also the aerodynamic layout a bit ,so retaining the same profiles. It could be that the Austrians incorporated more washout than in the original german design. But this had to be checked again and will take some more time. I have very good data on the Austrian wings but on the German version there are several diverse figures so it is not an easy task to study.

To illustrate a bit the difference in the way the plywood covering was attached to the fuselage frame on German and Austrian built examples I note the german way was to form from strips of plywood which are precicly cut to a template and scarf jointed together over a wooden mold a shell which was nailed and screwed to the frames. this gave some noticeable steps in the covering where panels meet. On Austrian planes this shells was formed in making curved cuts into sheets reinforce this cuts on the backside with plywood strips and everything was glued, nailed and riveted together. Every smooth surface with no steps can be achieved with this. Needless to say these preformed shells had to be cut to very close tolerances as they are very stiff once glued on the mold and can not be forced onto the frame. they must simply fit. Lots of fun.

The new airframe now has an identity. Alb. D.III 253.24 was with Flik 51 J on the Southern front from June 1918. She was flown by several pilots from this unit until it was heavily damaged by storm in September 1918.