Aviatik (Berg) D.I - Series 30 & series 38

Preliminary note: We're starting some little holidays today and we won't be back until next Tuesday, don't expect any new posts until then.

The Aviatik (Berg) D.I was a single-seat biplane fighter designed by the engineer Julius von Berg and manufactured by the Austrian Aviatik, among many others. It's noteworthy to mention that it was built in greater numbers than any other Austro-Hungarian fighter.

The series 30 were just the prototypes, three of them were built, 30.19 which was used for ground testing and never took-off, the 30.20 which actually flew as it was used for flight tests and the 30.21 which was used as reserve prototype, just in case.

The Series 38 were the first production series. The early versions differed little from the prototype, just in some small details and they were still armed with an unsychronised 8mm Schwarzlose 07/12 machine gun placed on the upper wing while the later versions had two synchronised machine guns of the same type placed at the sides of the engine firing through the propeller. It was powered by a 182hp Austro-Daimler AD6 series 18000 engine.
Seventy-one of them were produced and was the aircraft of choice of the Austro-Hungarian ace Friedrich Hefty who scored one of his victories flying a Berg D.I before switching to an Oeffag D.III. It served with various Fliks (the Austro-Hungarian equivalent to squadrons):

• Fluggeschwader I: This was the first unit to receive the Berg D.I
• Flik 42J
• Flik 50D: This unit was used for scoutting purposes.
• Flik 63J
• Flik 74J

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviatik_(Berg)_D.I
2. http://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/59708
3. Osprey Books - Aircraft of the Aces 46 - Austro-Hungarian Aces of World War I
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aviatik (Berg) D.I - Foreign Users

The Aviatik-Berg D.I saw also postwar service with various nations after the war.

• State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs & Kingdom of Yugoslavia: After the armistice of 1918 many airplanes were left-over by the Austro-Hungarian troops and were seized by the forces of the newly created State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia later. They were employed by the Slovenes in the Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia of 1918-1919.
• Romania: Apparently the Kingdom of Romania incorporated some D.I after the war. They were most probably MAG made. However any further detail is unknown, so the pic should be considered as purely speculative.
• Hungarian Soviet Republic: Some MAG made Aviatik-Berg D.I were used by the Red Hungarian Air Corps during the revolutionary period of 1919.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviatik_(Berg)_D.I

2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aviatik (Berg) 30.14

This airplane was the first single-seat fighter to be built by the Austrian Österreichisch Ungarische Flugzeugfabrik Aviatik (the Austrian Aviatik) following the designs of the engineer Julius von Berg.

The Aviatik 30.14, which was the 14th prototype aircraft according to the Austrian Aviatik designation system, was powered by a 185hp Austro-Daimler engine. It was armed with a single 8mm schwarloze synchronised machine gun. It was made out of wood with ply and fabric skinning.
It crashed when performing it's maiden flight in Aspern, close to Vienna on 16th October 1916 killing it's test pilot, Ferdinand Konschel. It did, however, show enough promise to warrant sufficient development of the basic design. That way, the wing gap was reduced drastically, wings were staggered, vertical tail surfaces were enlarged and more minor changes were made building three further prototypes, the 30.19, 30.20 and 30.21. All these prototypes were in fact the forerunner (if not directly the prototype) of the Aviatik (Berg) D.I.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww1/aviatik3014.html (translated)

Aviatik D.VII

The Aviatik D.VII, was a single-seat biplane fighter intended to take part third D-Type contest held at Adlershof on October 1918.
It was basically like the Aviatik D.VI but it had it's vertical and horizontal surfaces redesigned.

It was also powered by the Benz IIIbm with a four-bladed propeller. It was armed with the standard pair of 7,92mm LMG 08/16 machine guns and only one prototype was completed without having seen any military service whatsoever.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviatik_D.VII

Aviatik D.VI

In 1918 Aviatik was working on various prototypes of single-seat fighter at the same time. Two of them, the Aviatik D.IV and D.V were powered by the Benz Bz IIIbv which was a larger version of the Benz BzIIIbm. The D.V was powered by that same engine but was a new design which discarded flying wires. Unfortunately there it seems that there aren't pics of these models, or at least we couldn't find any.

The D.VI was the only prototype among those three that was flown in August 1918 and had little resemblance to the previous Aviatik fighter projects. It was a two-bay biplane made out of wood with ply-covered fuselage and fabric covered wings and tail surfaces.
It was armed with the usual pair of German 7,92mm LMG 08/15 machine guns and powered by the Benz IIIbm engine. It was intended to take part in the second D-type contest held in Adlershof in June 1918 but due to some engine problems it didn't make it in time. However, when tested in August 1918 it revealed excellent flying characteristics.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aviatik D.III

Preliminary note: At first we thought that we got the scale wrong, but after double checking or even triple checking it, we realized that it was that long.

The Aviatik D.III was a prototype German biplane fighter that flew for the first time on November 1917 and became the basis for the subsequent Aviatik D.IV and D.V models.

Initially it was powered by a 195hp Benz Bz IIIbo gearless engine and was armed with the usual pair of LMG 08/15 machine guns.
After some testing performed at Adlershof during February 1918, some modifications were performed as they were requested by the Idflieg. In April, a second prototype, this time powered by a Benz Bz IIIbm, flew, even if the first variant (powered by the Bz IIIbo engine) was already in production. However, due to some delays and the armistice, none of them completed and it never went beyond the prototype stage.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviatik_D.III
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aviatik D.II

Today we're back in the World War I after our long stay in Czechoslovakia covering Avia's airplanes.

The Automobil und Aviatik AG of Leipzig-Heiterblick built under license the Halberstadt D.II, which was known as the Aviatik D.I and, later as Halberstadt D.II(Av). That was before 1916 when Aviatik decided to design, develop and build their own fighter.
It was powered by the 160hp Daimler D.III engine and was armed with two synchronised 7,92mm LMG 08/15 machine guns.
Fuselage consisted on a staggered single-bay biplane with wooden fabric-covered wings and a forward steel tube and wood aft fuselage which was largely ply-covered.

It didn't receive the favour from the idflieg as a result of the Typen-Prüfung and further development was discontinued.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft25476.htm