1.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
2.
Belgian Air Component
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The Belgian Air Component is the air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces. The Belgian military aviation was founded in 1909 and is one of the worlds oldest air services, the commander is Major General aviator Frederik Vansina, appointed on 23 July 2009. The Belgian military aviation was founded in 1909 as a branch of the Belgian Army, King Alberts interest in the military use of aircraft was the main impetus for its formation. Coincidentally, in the aviation sector, Baron Pierre de Caters earned the first civil pilots brevet that same year. Caters would promptly establish an aviation school, at approximately the same time, the War Ministry followed the French militarys example and had pilots earn a civil pilots brevet before their military one. In 1910, three Belgian lieutenants earned their pilots brevets at the school, paying their own fees, two of the artillery lieutenants were Baudoin de Montens dOosterwyck, who earned Brevet No.19 on 30 September, and Alfred Sarteel, granted No.23 on 10 November. The third lieutenant, Georges Nelis, was the new forces first aviation candidate, an aircraft was personally purchased for him. In spring of 1911, the new air force established its aviation school with five pilots. It received its first aircraft via Baron Caters, who gave the aircraft to King Albert and they were disciplined for their efforts. Belgium entered World War I with aircraft tasked solely for reconnaissance missions, a truck was assigned to each squadron, along with a fifth truck serving as a mobile workshop. Each squadron had a commander, five pilots, and six observers, as a result, most of the new aviators were from the Engineers and Artillery components of the Belgian armed forces. As the war began, a squadron was created, staffed with civilian pilots called to the colors. Sous Lieutenant Henri Crombez flew one of the first war patrols, adjutant Behaeghe was the first to engage an enemy, a few days later. On 3 January 1915, two guns supplied by British were fitted to two Belgian aircraft, making a dual effort against the foe possible, these were Belgiums first dedicated fighter planes. In February, thirteen of the Belgian airmen flew 28 offensive patrols, on 26 March, Sous Lieutenant Boschmans sent a German two-seater into a steep dive when he seemed to hit the pilot, the German was not seen to either crash or land. This was the Belgian aviators first victory claim, in April, Lieutenant Fernand Jacquet mounted a machine gun on his pusher aircraft and sought out the enemy. On the 17th, he and his observer scored Belgiums first confirmed aerial victory, luckily for them, they missed, success would probably have blown them out of the sky. On 18 January 1916, the decision was made to form a fighter squadron
3.
Trainer (aircraft)
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A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. Civilian pilots are trained in a light aircraft, with two or more seats to allow for a student and instructor. The aircraft may be modified to withstand the conditions imposed by training flights. The two seating configurations for trainer aircraft are, pilot and instructor side by side, or in tandem, usually with the pilot in front, the tandem configuration has the advantage of being closer to the normal working environment that a fast jet pilot is likely to encounter. It is now the norm for pilots to begin their training in an aircraft with side by side seating. This, however, has not always been the case, given the expense of military pilot training, air forces typically conduct training in phases to eliminate unsuitable candidates. The cost to air forces that do not follow a graduated training regimen is not just monetary. There are two areas for instruction, flight training and operational training. In flight training a candidate seeks to develop their flying skills, in operational training the candidate learns to use his or her flying skills through simulated combat, attack and fighter techniques. Typically, contemporary military pilots learn initial flying skills in an aircraft not too dissimilar from civilian training aircraft. In this phase candidates are screened for mental and physical attributes. Aircraft used for this include the Slingsby Firefly, as at one time used by the United States Air Force Academy. The U. S. replaced the Firefly and the Enhanced Flight Screen Program with the Diamond DA20, at the end of this stage, pilot trainees are assessed as to where their attributes lie, as fast jet, multi-engine or rotary wing pilots. Those who are judged unsuitable for a commission, but show other attributes, may be offered the chance to qualify as navigators. Smaller and more financially restricted air forces may use ultra-light aircraft, gliders, after the ab-inito phase a candidate may progress to basic, or primary, trainers. These are usually turboprop trainers, like the Pilatus PC-9 and Embraer Tucano, prior to the availability of high performance turboprops, basic training was conducted with jet aircraft such as the BAC Jet Provost, T-37 Tweet, and Fouga Magister. Those candidates who are not suitable to continue training as fast jet pilots may be offered flying commissions, examples of such jet trainer aircraft include the supersonic T-38 Talon, the BAE Hawk, the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, the Aero L-39 and the Yakovlev Yak-130. Effective combat aircraft are a function now electronics as much as, if not more so than and it is at this stage that a pilot begins to learn to operate radar systems and electronics
4.
Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet
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The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced trainer aircraft co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform the trainer and light attack missions, both the French Air Force and German Air Force procured the Alpha Jet in large numbers, the former principally as a trainer aircraft and the latter choosing to use it as a light attack platform. As a result of post-Cold War military cutbacks, Germany elected to retire its own fleet of Alpha Jets in the 1990s and has many of these aircraft to both military and civilian operators. The Alpha Jet has been adopted by a number of air forces across the world and has seen active combat use by some of these operators. In the early 1960s, European air forces began to consider their requirements for the coming decades, britain and France established a collaborative program to pursue development of what was initially intended to become a supersonic jet aircraft. This aircraft was to be produced in two variants for different roles, trainer and light attack aircraft. As such, the Jaguar was not well suited for the training mission. France also valued military cooperation with West Germany, wanting to break a perceived German ideological preference for American aircraft, in 1968, a joint specification was produced out of these talks. One substantial change to the requirements was that the trainer was now specified to be subsonic, supersonic trainer aircraft having proven to be superfluous to practical requirements. At one point, both the German government and the German Air Force had been keen to relocate pilot training activities from the United States to France as part of the project, each of these proposals were to be powered by twin SNECMA Turbomeca Larzac turbofan engines. On 23 July 1970, the Breguet-Dassault-Dornier TA501 was declared the winner of the competition, in February 1972, the approval to proceed with full development was issued. In May 1972, the first project meeting was held in Bordeaux, by November 1972, the project had passed its first mock-up review. Two prototypes were to be built by Dassault in France and a further two were to be built by Dornier in Germany, the remaining two prototypes were in the air before the end of 1974. Manufacture of Alpha Jet sub-assemblies was divided between France, Germany and Belgium, each country performing final assembly and checkout of the type in separate facilities. A total of 4,500 people were employed in the manufacturing of the Alpha Jet in Germany, both Belgium and Egypt, who were early export customers for the Alpha Jet, domestically performed the final assembly of their French-configuration Alpha Jet E aircraft. On 4 November 1977, the first production made its first flight. In September 1978, deliveries of production Alpha Jets formally commenced, prototype 01 was specifically used early on to support the development of the Larzac engine. Initial flight was on 9 April 1982, cameroon obtained seven and Egypt obtained 15
5.
9 Squadron (Belgium)
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9 Squadron is a training squadron of the Belgian Air Component, constituting the Basic Flying Training School together with 5 Squadron. The 9ème Escadrille de Chasse was originally the 1ère Escadrille de Chasse, on 1 March 1918, while stationed at Les Moëres aerodrome near Veurne, it would be reorganized into the 9ème Escadrille and become part of Belgiums first fighter wing, the Groupe de Chasse. The squadron continued to use the equipment and personnel of the 1ère Escadrille, 9ème Escadrille also inherited the Thistle symbol and motto “Nemo me impune lacessit” or “No-one can challenge me unpunished”. The squadrons fleet consisted largely of Hanriot-Dupont 1s, supplemented by a some Sopwith Camels, the 10ème Escadrille and 11ème Escadrille were the other squadrons of the Group, also known as the Groupe Jaquet, after its Commanding Officer, Capitaine Fernand Jacquet. Headed by Capitaine Walter Gallez,9 Squadron counted a number of fighter pilots amongst its ranks, Willy Coppens, Jan Olieslagers. During the initial years of World War I, the Aviation Militaire Belge was based in the remnant of a small country. Only in September 1918 did the Belgian Army advance, to support the offensive, 9ème Escadrille moved to Moerkerke near the Dutch border in October 1918. At the end of the war, 9ème Escadrille was credited with 51 verified aerial victories,41 of which were enemy observation balloons, in turn, it suffered three pilots wounded in action or captured. After the armistice,9 Squadron was stationed at Sint-Agatha-Berchem, in the outskirts of Brussels, in 1919, they moved again to Schaffen near Diest to be integrated in 2nd Group. The squadron equipment was augmented by Fokker D-VII aircraft, yielded by the Germans as compensation for damages during World War I, in March 1920,9 Squadron was equipped with SPAD XIII aircraft, and together with 10 Squadron, made up 4th Group. Still at Schaffen, the Squadron received their new Nieuport-Delage 29 aircraft in July 1922, in 1935, the Squadrons at Bierset were re-organised into 9 Squadron and 11 Squadron of the 5th Group of the 1st Aeronautical Regiment. Initially still equipped with Bréguet XIX, they received the Belgian Renard R31 monoplane. Their mission changed from Bombardment to Observation, as of 1938, the “Sioux” symbol appeared on the aircraft, designed by Roger Delannay. On 9 Squadron aircraft the Sioux was surrounded by a blue circle, just before the outbreak of World War II,11 Squadron was assigned to 6th Group. 9 Squadron remained the only flying unit in the 5th Group which was now under command of Commander Breulhez. To improve mobility and the possibility of deployed operations, each comprised an maintenance squadron, a field train of about 25 vehicles. Commanded by Captain Lekeuche,9 Squadron took a part in the 18 days campaign. On the morning of the 10 May,9 Squadron rejoined its diversion airfield at Duras,9 Squadron was one of three squadrons that continued to fight until the surrender on 28 May 1940
6.
Origami
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Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. In modern usage, the word origami is used as a term for all folding practices. The goal is to transform a flat square of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Modern origami practitioners generally discourage the use of cuts, glue, Origami folders often use the Japanese word kirigami to refer to designs which use cuts, although cutting is more characteristic of Chinese papercrafts. The small number of basic origami folds can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs, the best-known origami model is the Japanese paper crane. In general, these begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be of different colors, prints. Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo period, has often been less strict about these conventions, the principles of origami are also used in stents, packaging and other engineering applications. Distinct paperfolding traditions arose in Europe, China, and Japan which have been well-documented by historians and these seem to have been mostly separate traditions, until the 20th century. In China, traditional funerals include the burning of folded paper. The practice of burning paper representations instead of wood or clay replicas dates from the Sung Dynasty. In Japan, the earliest unambiguous reference to a model is in a short poem by Ihara Saikaku in 1680 which mentions a traditional butterfly design used during Shinto weddings. Folding filled some ceremonial functions in Edo period Japanese culture, noshi were attached to gifts and this developed into a form of entertainment, the first two instructional books published in Japan are clearly recreational. In Europe, there was a genre of napkin-folding, which flourished during the 17th and 18th centuries. When Japan opened its borders in the 1860s, as part of a strategy, they imported Froebels Kindergarten system—and with it. This included the ban on cuts, and the shape of a bicolored square. These ideas, and some of the European folding repertoire, were integrated into the Japanese tradition, before this, traditional Japanese sources use a variety of starting shapes, often had cuts, and if they had color or markings, these were added after the model was folded. In the early 1900s, Akira Yoshizawa, Kosho Uchiyama, Akira Yoshizawa in particular was responsible for a number of innovations, such as wet-folding and the Yoshizawa–Randlett diagramming system, and his work inspired a renaissance of the art form. During the 1980s a number of folders started systematically studying the properties of folded forms
7.
Sopwith Camel
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The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It had been developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the earlier Sopwith Pup, the Camel was powered by a single rotary engine and was armed with twin synchronized machine guns. Though proving difficult to handle, it provided for a level of manoeuvrability to an experienced pilot. In total, Camel pilots have been credited with the shooting down of 1,294 enemy aircraft, the Camel also saw use as a two-seat trainer aircraft. In January 1920, the last aircraft of the type were withdrawn from RAF service and it was recognised that the new fighter would need to be faster and have a heavier armament. The design effort to produce this successor, initially designated as the Sopwith F.1, was headed by Sopwiths chief designer, early in its development, the new aircraft was simply referred to as the Big Pup. A metal fairing over the gun breeches, intended to protect the guns from freezing at altitude, however, the Camel name never had any official status in regards to the aircraft. On 22 December 1916, the prototype Camel was first flown by Harry Hawker at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, in May 1917, the first production contract for an initial batch of 250 Camels was issued by the British War Office. Throughout 1917, a total of 1,325 Camels were manufactured, by the time that production of the type came to an end, approximately 5,490 Camels of all types had been built. In early 1918, production of the navalised Ships Camel 2F.1 began, while possessing some clear similarities with the Pup, it was furnished with a noticeably bulkier fuselage. In addition to the guns, a total of four Cooper bombs could be carried for ground attack purposes. The upper wing featured a central section for the purpose of providing improved upwards visibility for the pilot. Production Camels were powered by various engines, most commonly either the Clerget 9B or the Bentley BR1. In order to evade a potential manufacturing bottleneck being imposed upon the aircraft in the event of an engine shortage. Unlike the preceding Pup and Triplane, the Camel was considered to be difficult to fly, the Camel soon gained an unfortunate reputation with pilots. Many inexperienced pilots would crash on take-off when the fuel load usually carried pushed the aircrafts centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limits. When in level flight, the Camel was markedly tail-heavy, the aircraft could be rigged so that at higher altitudes it could be flown hands off. A stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin, at length, with the assistance of Lieut Morgan, who managed our workshops, I took the main tank out of several Camels and replaced with a smaller one, which enabled us to fit in dual control
8.
Hanriot HD.1
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The Hanriot HD.1 was a French World War I single-seat fighter aircraft. Rejected for service with French squadrons in favour of the SPAD S.7, the type was supplied to the Belgian, of a total of about 1,200 examples built,831 were in fact produced by Italian companies under licence. The Hanriot company produced a series of pioneering monoplanes pre-war, but had settled down as a manufacturer, notably of Sopwith 1½ strutters. The type was a fighter with the general characteristics of a typical Sopwith type, being strongly but lightly built. In particular, it used the same “1½” cabane strut arrangement as the Sopwith two-seater and it had a flat lower wing, though the top wing had quite sharp dihedral. On the power of its 110 hp Le Rhone rotary engine it was not outstandingly fast, Italian-built versions, however, mounted a single machine gun centrally. The type was produced by the Nieuport-Macchi company of Varese, Italy. The new type was ordered into production as a replacement for the Nieuport 17. Some were supplied to the French Navy, a few of which were passed to the U. S. Navy – some naval Hanriots were converted to, or built as. The bulk of production, however, was diverted to the Belgians. With the Belgian fighter squadrons the HD.1 proved surprisingly successful, willy Coppens, the top Belgian ace of the war was the most successful HD.1 pilot. At least one of his machines was experimentally fitted with an 11mm Vickers machine-gun for use in balloon busting, something at which Coppens excelled, most of his victories were balloons and many were claimed while flying various HD. 1s. These aircraft remained in use until the late 1920s, the type was also supplied in small numbers to the Italians who manufactured it in quantity, and used it to replace not only Nieuports but also SPADs in their service. Surplus Italian-built Hanriots were used by several countries postwar, including the Swiss, the U. S. Naval Aircraft Factory built 10 HD. 1s in the immediate postwar years. This airplane was flown by famed World War I French Ace Charles Nungesser in the 1930 movie The Dawn Patrol, kingdom of Italy Corpo Aeronautico Militare - Standard Italian fighter at the end of World War I Paraguay Paraguayan Air Force - Three aircraft only. Switzerland Swiss Air Force - Postwar United States United States Navy Data from Holmes,2005. General characteristics Crew, one, pilot Length,5.85 m Wingspan,8.70 m Height,2.94 m Wing area,18 m² Empty weight,407 kg Loaded weight,605 kg Max. An 11mm Vickers gun on one or two Belgian machines, related lists List of military aircraft of France List of fighter aircraft
9.
Armistice of 11 November 1918
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It went into effect at 11 a. m. Paris time on 11 November 1918, and marked a victory for the Allies, the Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U. S. President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. Although the armistice ended the fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. In addition, he recommended the acceptance of the demands of US president Woodrow Wilson including putting the Imperial Government on a democratic footing, hoping for more favorable peace terms. As he said to officers of his staff on 1 October, on 3 October, the liberal Prince Maximilian of Baden was appointed Chancellor of Germany, replacing Georg von Hertling in order to negotiate an armistice. In the subsequent two exchanges, Wilsons allusions failed to convey the idea that the Kaisers abdication was a condition for peace. The leading statesmen of the Reich were not yet ready to contemplate such a monstrous possibility, in late October, Ludendorff, in a sudden change of mind, declared the conditions of the Allies unacceptable. He now demanded to resume the war which he himself had declared lost only one month earlier, however the German soldiers were pressing to get home. It was scarcely possible to arouse their readiness for battle anew, the Imperial Government stayed on course and Ludendorff was replaced by Wilhelm Groener. On 5 November, the Allies agreed to take up negotiations for a truce, the latest note from Wilson was received in Berlin on 6 November. That same day, the led by Matthias Erzberger departed for France. For example, they assumed that the de-militarization suggested by Wilson would be limited to the Central Powers, there were also contradictions with their post-War plans that did not include a consistent implementation of the ideal of national self-determination. Also on 9 November, Max von Baden handed over the office of Chancellor to Friedrich Ebert, eberts SPD and Erzbergers Catholic Centre Party had enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the Imperial government since Bismarcks era in the 1870s and 1880s. They were well represented in the Imperial Reichstag, which had power over the government. Their prominence in the negotiations would cause the new Weimar Republic to lack legitimacy in right-wing. The Armistice was the result of a hurried and desperate process and they were then entrained and taken to the secret destination, aboard Ferdinand Fochs private train parked in a railway siding in the forest of Compiègne. Foch appeared only twice in the three days of negotiations, on the first day, to ask the German delegation what they wanted, the Germans were handed the list of Allied demands and given 72 hours to agree. The German delegation discussed the Allied terms not with Foch, but with other French, the Armistice amounted to complete German demilitarization, with few promises made by the Allies in return
10.
Bochum
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Bochum is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and part of the Arnsberg region. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, with a population of nearly 365,000, it is the 16th most populous city in Germany. The city lies on the low rolling hills of Bochum land ridge, the highest point of the city is at Kemnader Straße in Stiepel at 196 metres above sea level, the lowest point is 43 metres at the Blumenkamp in Hordel. The terrain of Bochum is characterised by rolling hills that rarely have more than three per cent graduation, the city extends north to south 13 km and 17.1 km east to west. The circumference of the city limits is 67.2 km, There is sedimentary rock of carbon and chalk. The geological strata can be visited in the quarry of the Zeche Klosterbusch. The urban area is divided into the river Ruhr catchment in the south, the Ruhr tributaries are the Oelbach, Gerther Mühlenbach, Harpener Bach, Langendreer Bach, Lottenbach, Hörsterholzer Bach and the Knöselbach. The Ruhr in combination with upstream reservoirs is used for drinking water abstraction. The Emscher tributaries are Hüller Bach with Dorneburger Mühlenbach, Hofsteder Bach, Marbach, Ahbach, Kabeisemannsbach, the ecological restoration of the Emscher tributaries initiated by the Emschergenossenschaft started with the Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park in 1989. The citys south has woods, the best known of which are the Weitmarer Holz and these are generally mixed forests of oak and beech. The occurrence of holly gives evidence of Bochums temperate climate, Bochum is divided into six administrative districts with a total of 362,213 inhabitants living in an urban area of 145.4 km2. Bochum-Mitte includes Innenstadt, Hamme, Hordel, Hofstede, Riemke, Grumme, Wattenscheid includes Wattenscheid-Mitte, Leithe, Günnigfeld, Westenfeld, Sevinghausen, Höntrop, Munscheid and Eppendorf. There are 74,602 inhabitants living in an area of 23.87 km², North includes Bergen, Gerthe, Harpen, Kornharpen, Hiltrop and Voede-Abzweig. There are 37,004 inhabitants living in an area of 18.86 km², East includes Laer, Werne, and Langendreer. There are 55,193 inhabitants living in an area of 23.46 km², south includes Wiemelhausen, Stiepel and Querenburg. There are 50,866 inhabitants living in an area of 27.11 km², southwest includes Weitmar, Sundern, Linden and Dahlhausen. There are 56,510 inhabitants living in an area of 19.50 km², Bochum dates from the 9th century, when Charlemagne set up a royal court at the junction of two important trade routes. It was first officially mentioned in 1041 as Cofbuokheim in a document of the archbishops of Cologne, the population of Bochum increased from about 4,500 in 1850 to 100,000 in 1904
11.
Fokker D.VII
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The Fokker D. VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D. VII aircraft in the half of 1918. In service with the Luftstreitkräfte, the D. VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft, the Armistice ending the war specifically required Germany to surrender all D. VIIs to the Allies. Surviving aircraft saw continued service with many other countries in the years after World War I. Fokkers chief designer, Reinhold Platz, had working on a series of experimental planes. These aircraft were characterized by the use of cantilever wings, Junkers had originated the idea in 1915 with the first all-metal aircraft, the Junkers J1, nicknamed Blechesel. The resulting wings were thick, with a leading edge. This gave greater lift and more docile stalling behavior than the thin wings commonly used at the time, late in 1917, Fokker built the experimental V11 biplane, fitted with the standard Mercedes D. IIIa engine. In January 1918, Idflieg held a competition at Adlershof. For the first time, frontline pilots would participate in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. Fokker submitted the V11 along with other prototypes. Manfred von Richthofen flew the V11 and found it tricky, unpleasant, in response to these complaints, Reinhold Platz lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay, and added a triangular vertical fin in front of the rudder. Upon flying the modified V11, Richthofen praised it as the best aircraft of the competition and it offered excellent performance from the outdated Mercedes engine, yet was safe and easy to fly. Richthofens recommendation virtually decided the competition, but he was not alone in recommending it, Fokker immediately received a provisional order for 400 production aircraft, which were designated D. VII by Idflieg. Fokkers factory was not up to the task of meeting all D. VII production orders, Idflieg therefore directed Albatros and AEG to build the D. VII under license, though AEG did not ultimately produce any aircraft. Because the Fokker factory did not use detailed plans as part of its production process, Albatros paid Fokker a five percent royalty for every D. VII built under license. Albatros Flugzeugwerke and its subsidiary, Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke, built the D. VII at factories in Johannisthal and Schneidemühl, aircraft markings included the type designation and factory suffix, immediately before the individual serial number. Some parts were not interchangeable between aircraft produced at different factories, even between Albatros and OAW, additionally each manufacturer tended to differ in nose paint styles
12.
Airco DH.4
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The Airco DH.4 was a British two-seat biplane day bomber of World War I. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland for Airco, and was the first British two-seat light day-bomber to have a defensive armament. It first flew in August 1916 and entered service with the Royal Flying Corps in March 1917, the majority of DH. 4s were actually built as general purpose two-seaters in the United States, for service with the American forces in France. The DH.4 was tried with several engines, of which the best was the 375 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. Armament and ordnance for the aircraft consisted of one 0.303 in Vickers machine gun for the pilot, two 230 lb bombs or four 112 lb bombs could be carried. The DH.4 entered service on 6 March 1917 with No.55 Squadron in France, the DH.4 was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland as a light two-seat day bomber powered by the new Beardmore Halford Pullinger engine. The prototype first flew in August 1916, powered by a prototype BHP engine rated at 230 hp, while the DH.4 trials were promising, the BHP engine required major redesign before entering production, and the Rolls-Royce Eagle engine was selected as the DH. 4s powerplant. The first order for 50 DH. 4s, powered by 250 hp Eagle III engines was placed at the end of 1916, the aircraft was a conventional tractor two bay biplane of all-wooden construction. The crew of two were accommodated in widely spaced cockpits, separated by the fuel tank and it was armed with a single forward-firing synchronised Vickers machine gun and one or two.303 in Lewis guns fitted on a Scarff ring fired by the observer. A bomb load of 460 lb could be fitted to external racks, as production continued, DH. 4s were fitted with Eagle engines of increasing power, settling on the 375 hp Eagle VIII, which powered the majority of frontline DH. 4s by the end of 1917. None of these engines could match the Rolls-Royce Eagle, however, in American production, the new Liberty engine proved suitable as a DH.4 powerplant. The Liberty was also to power the British DH. 9A. Production was by Airco, F. W. Berwick and Co, Glendower Aircraft Company, Palladium Autocars, Vulcan Motor and Engineering, a total of 1,449 aircraft were made in the UK for the RFC and RNAS. SABCA of Belgium made a further 15 in 1926, a total of 9,500 DH-4s were ordered from American manufacturers, of which 1,885 actually reached France during the war. After the war, a number of firms, most significantly Boeing, were contracted by the U. S. Army to remanufacture surplus DH-4s to DH-4B standard. Known by Boeing as the Model 16, deliveries of 111 aircraft from this manufacturer took place between March and July 1920, with 50 of them returned for further three years later. In 1923, the Army ordered a new DH-4 variant from Boeing and these three prototypes were designated DH-4M-1 and were ordered into production alongside the generally similar DH-4M-2 developed by Atlantic Aircraft. A total of 22 of the 163 DH-4M-1s were converted by the Army into dual-control trainers, the DH.4 entered service with the RFC in January 1917, first being used by No.55 Squadron
Belgium
