05 Model of Austro-Hungarian Fighter Aircraft Albatros D.III (Oef)

Fotogalerie

The Albatros D.III (Oef) was the most successful fighter aircraft used by the Austro-Hungarian Air Force (K.u.k. Luftfahrtruppen) during World War I. Based on the German model, it was mass-produced by the Austrian company Oeffag in Wiener Neustadt from 1917 to 1918. It differed from the German model by using a different engine (Austro-Daimler) and armament (two Schwarzlose machine guns). Depending on the version of the engine used, it reached a maximum speed of 174 km/h to 202 km/h.

At the beginning of 1918, Czech pilot Josef Novák (1893-1934) flew on the Italian front on the aircraft, serial number 153.137.

Novák often flew as the number of the Flik 41J commander, Godwin Brumowski (1889-1936), who became the most successful Austro-Hungarian aviator with 35 credited kills. Novak officially credited only five kills, but it is possible that there were more. According to the recollections of their joint mechanic, Private František Šimek (1898-1974), Novák was supposed to have discreetly "transferred" or "sold" 19 kills to the ambitious Brumowski. After the end of the war, Novák, as the chief pilot of the Prague Aero aircraft factory, became an important figure in Czechoslovak aviation.