Albatros C.III: Luftwaffe, avant la lettre.

The C.III was the most successful and produced C-type of the Albatros company. A refined, lighter, more compact evolution of the C.I, this two-bay biplane gained a synchronized machine-gun and was powered by the same engines its forebear used: either a 150hp Benz Bz.III or a 160hp Mercedes D.III. Well-loved and efficient, they saw front-line service from Dec. 1915 until the middle of 1917. About 2200 were produced.

The magnificent front page of the “Illustrirte Zeitung” Nr. 3865 magazine issue, Leipzig (1917). The “skirmish” included a DH.2, a D.III and this superb, but not very accurate C.III. That round star-shapped aperture in the top wing is both cool and bizarre.