Sunday 21 February 2016

Albatros L.65/Memel A.F.G. 1

We have included this flag because, as Germany was forbidden to own an air force/air corps, every warplane manufactured (clandestinely) was, organically dependant of the Reichswehr, the armed forces of the German Republic.

The Albatros L.65, AKA Memel A.F.G.1 was a German/Lithuanian two-seat reconnaissance fighter airplane of the mid-1920s.

Under the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany couldn't have an air force or air corps, so, in order to evade those restrictions, the Albatros Flugzeugwerke stablished a subsidiay company in Lithuania called Allgemeine Flug-Gesellschaft Memel located in the Lithuanian city of Memel, hence the secondary name of this airplane.

Two prototypes were built and both of them were made out of wood and were covered in plywood skin in an staggered biplane configuration. Wings were joinced by interplane I-struts of broad aerofoil cross-section.
The first prototype was powered by a 450hp 12-cylinder Napier Lion engine, while the second one used the same up-powered version of the same engine, which had a power of 565hp.

The first prototype was demonstrated to General Kraucevicius, who was the chief of the Lithuanian Air Force at the time, as the airplane that would be the first native Lithuanian aircraft, but it wasn't followed by any acquisition order from the Lithuanian government.
The second prototype was evaluated by the Reichswehr, in order to equip the clandestine flying school located in Lipetsk, USSR, but the better Heinkel HD.17 was choosen.









 Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_L_65
2. Salamander Books - The Complete book of fighters
3. http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/McBrideBill/11500.htm

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