Halberstadt Aircraft of World War One
The Halberstadt D.II was not a particularly well received biplane fighter aircraft that served through the period of Allied air superiority in early 1916, but had begun to be replaced with the superior Albatros fighters by the autumn of that year. The Halberstadt D.II was underpowered, slow, lacking in firepower. It was unable to match the altitudes reached by other planes in the German arsenal.
If the only performance figures available for the type are accurate, the Halberstadt fighter's speed and climb were little better than the Eindecker's, and inferior to such Allied contemporaries as the Nieuport 11 and the D.H.2, but it earned the respect of Allied fighter pilots, and was the preferred mount of the pilots of the early Jagdstaffeln, until the Albatros D.I became available.
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The D.II was the production version of the experimental D.I. Lightened to improve performance, it also featured staggered wings, and a more powerful 120 hp Mercedes D.II engine. The side and frontal radiators that had been tried in the D.I were replaced by a wing mounted radiator similar to that later used by the Albatros D.III and D.V. The two bay wings were very strongly braced, and the cockpit was raised in relation to where it had been on the D.I. This required a turtledeck to be built up on the rear fuselage to fair the cockpit into the lines of the fuselage. The wing trailing edge was a wooden member, as opposed to the wire common on contemporary German aircraft. Lateral control was by ailerons, but there were no fixed tail surfaces, and over-sensitive "Morane"-style balanced elevators similar to those employed by the Fokker Eindecker were retained. Although it must have shared the typical "Morane" elevator sensitivity, and the controls cannot have been well harmonised, it was very manoeuvrable in skilled hands, and could be dived safely at high speed. A single synchronised 7.92 mm (.312 in) lMG 08 "Spandau" machine gun fired through the propeller arc.
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The Halberstadt CL.II was the first German purpose designed aircraft for the ground attack role. The Halberstädter Flugzeug Werke began supplying the German Halberstadt D-II during the summer of 1916. The plane was created to provide air support for ground troops.
The CL.II was powered by the reliable 160 hp (120 kW), 6 cylinder in-line, watercooled Mercedes aircraft engine. and armed with three machine-guns and five 22-pound (10 kg) anti-personnel bombs, the plane soon established itself as the best ground attack fighters of the war.
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Along with the Albatros D-II , the Halberstadt helped the Central Powers to regain control over the Western Front. After the arrival of the superior Airco DH2 and the Nieuport 17, they were reassigned to training duty.
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The Halberstadt CL.IV was one of the most effective ground attack aircraft of World War I, relying on its good maneuverability to avoid ground fire. It appeared on the Western Front towards the end of the German offensives in 1918. Karl Thies, chief designer of the Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke, G.m.b.H., designed the CL.IV as a replacement for the CL.II, which was very successful in harassing Allied troops. Purpose of an improved version was to create a superior ground attack aircraft. The illustration represents a license built aircraft by Roland.
The new CL.IV featured a shorter, strengthened fuselage and a horizontal stabilizer of greater span and higher aspect ratio than that of the CL.II. These changes, along with a one-piece, horn-balanced elevator, gave the CL.IV much greater maneuverability than the CL.II. After tests were completed of the prototype in April 1918, at least 450 were ordered from Halberstadt, and an additional 250 aircraft from a subcontractor, LFG (Roland).
As with the CL.II, the CL.IV was powered by a single 160 hp (120 kW), 6 cylinder in-line, watercooled Mercedes aircraft engine. The aircraft was armed with a fixed forward-firing 0.312 in (7.92 mm) LMG 08/15 “Spandau” synchronized machine gun, and a single trainable 0.312 in (7.92 mm) “Parabellum” MG14 machine gun, on a ring mount in the observer's cockpit.
The Halberstadt C.V was a German single-engined photo-reconnaissance biplane designed by Karl Theis. The C.V was built by Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke G.m.b.H. The first flight was in March of 1918, it proved very manoeuverable and superior to other type aircraft in its class. The C.V entered service in late 1918 where it saw limited service with the Luftstreitkräfte during the final months of the war.
The C.V was developed as a refinement of the Halberstadt C.III. The aircraft was fitted with a more powerful supercharged 160 kW (220 hp) Benz Bz.IV engine modified for high altitude flying by raising the compression in the cylinders. Armament consisted of a foreward firing 0.312 in (7.92 mm) LMG 08/15 machine gun operated by the pilot, and a trainable parabellum machine gun operated by the observer. It could also carry up to 110 pounds (50kgs) of bombs. Initially a 250mm camera was mounted in the observer's cockpit floor. An electrical generator driven by the engine powered heated flying suits worn by the crew, and radio equipment.
The design was not without a problematic safety issue. Take offs and especially landings could be dangerous due to the C.V's very short fuselage length and a lack of structural strength in the undercarriage struts. Because of the short fuselage, the aircraft had a tendency to bounce when landing damaging the undercarriage which could collapse and in some cases flip the aircraft over. In spite of this flaw the pilots who flew the aircraft, liked it very much. They were willing to trade off the risky landings for the C.V's excellent flight characteristics and the protection provided by the deep fuselage sides. The design provided a good visibility an field of fire for the observer mounted parabellum machine gun.
Late in the war one Halberstadt C.V was captured in Estonia. The aircraft was modified for use as a float plane and operated by the Estonian Air Force in 1919. A single C.V (S/No. 3471/18) survives at the Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire in Brussels, Belgium.
