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The Halberstadt
D.II was a biplane fighter
aircraft developed and manufactured
by German aircraft company Halberstädter
Flugzeugwerke.
It was adopted
by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial
German Army Air Service) and s erved
through the period of Allied air
superiority in early 1916. As
the first biplane configuration
fighter aircraft to serve in combat
for the German Empire, it had begun
to be superseded in the Jagdstaffeln and
other early German fighter units by
the superior Albatros fighters in
the second half of the year,
although small numbers of
Halberstadts continued in use well
into 1917.
The D.V version
was a less radical departure from
the earlier D.II version and mostly
differed from the D.II, in having
its four-member cabane strut
structure supporting a central panel
for the upper wing, rather than both
upper wing panel's wing roots
meeting along the centerline of the
aircraft, for better forward pilot
vision. It also used the D.III
version's Argus As.II engine and
changed the mounting position of the
aircraft's 7.92 mm (.312 in) lMG 08
machine gun from the right to the
left side of the nose. A total of 57
D.V aircraft were built ,
from orders placed in October 1916
and January–June 1917, with 31 of
these being sent to Germany's ally
in the Central Powers, the Ottoman
Empire.
Dan’s model has
been under construction since 2007
and has been stored while other
projects have priority. Since
several of those projects had been
“retired” this past year, Dan has
put his energies into completing the
D.V.
Dan obtained
Gary Sunderland plans from Flying
Scale Models December 2002 article
for the project. It is a ¼
scale model powered by a Saito
FA-180 converted to
gasoline and ignition. He’s
modeled it after Rudolph Stolt’s
aircraft from 1916. Due the
long tail moment, Dan tells us that
he has enough lead in the nose to
shield a small nuclear reactor.
Dan hand cut all
the pieces to model the Mercedes
dummy engine and the wing radiator.
The model is complete and Dan
expects to fly it this spring (2026)
19 years after he started the
project! We look forward to
seeing it fly! |
Just
a reminder that Treasurer, Larry
Sorenson has set up an On-Line
Link through the website so you can
pay your annual dues/donations.
There is an additional .74 fee to
the club for the service, so just
pay $11 or an additional donation if
you wish to. Every little bit helps!
