Albatros J.I

A.E.G. and Junkers had produced armored close-support aircraft in the J-class, and they were supplemented by the Albatros J.I and J.II. The J.I married the C.XII wing with an ungainly fuselage with armor plating over the cockpit area. The lack of plating to protect the engine was a major limitation of the type: its competitors had armored the engine as well as the crew areas. This oversight was corrected in the J.II.

Given that it had less horsepower than the C.XII, flight performance must have been much more clumsy, but that mattered little at the altitude and mission profile under which the J.I operated. Starting in February 1918, some J.Is operated with a 20mm Becker cannon and Lewis gun rather than the flexible Parabellum and downward-firing fixed machine guns. The initial three cannon-armed J.Is were followed by five more in April.

Three J.I's were acquired by Austria-Hungary for evaluation. One crashed during testing; a second was damaged at the front in May 1918; and the last saw duty with Flik 69/S between July and September 1918.

1:144 Scale

 * Shapeways: Reduced Aircraft Factory

1:285/6mm/1:288 Scale

 * Shapeways: Reduced Aircraft Factory