Aviatik C.III

The Aviatik C.III was an attempt to clean up the aerodynamic profile of the Aviatik C.I, but it retained the same engine. Aside from an 18kph/11mph increase in speed, it was little improved and it retained the same crippling design of stranding the observer/gunner under the front wing. (Although in later machines two Parabellums were carried, eliminating the need to move the gun from one rail to the other.) Twenty-four Aviatik C.Ia orders were converted to C.IIIs, followed by a order for twenty-five additional in July 1916. Later, in 1917, a further two hundred were built as trainers. They were used in small numbers at the front from mid 1916 until summer of 1917.