Pfalz D.III

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The Pfalz D.III was a fighter aircraft used by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War. The D.III was the first major original design from Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Though generally considered inferior to contemporary Albatros and Fokker fighters, the D.III was widely used by the Jagdstaffeln from the fall of 1917 through the summer of 1918. It continued to serve as a training aircraft until the end of the war.

Design and development

Pfalz D.III prototype in April 1917

Pfalz D.III (serial 4114/17) of Marine Feld Jasta II

Prior to World War I, Pfalz Flugzeugwerke produced Morane-Saulnier monoplane designs under license.^[1] These aircraft entered military service as the Pfalz A- and E-series. In September 1916, Pfalz began producing the first of 20 Roland D.I and 200 Roland D.II fighters under license.^[2]

In November 1916, Pfalz hired Rudolph Gehringer from Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen GmbH.^[3] As Pfalz’s new chief engineer, Gehringer immediately commenced work on an original fighter design. The resulting D.III emerged in April 1917. Like the Rolands, the D.III used a plywood monocoque fuselage. Two layers of thin plywood strips were placed over a mold to form one half of a fuselage shell.^[4] The fuselage halves were then glued together, covered with a layer of fabric, and doped. This Wickelrumpf method gave the fuselage great strength, light weight, and smooth contours compared to conventional construction techniques.^[4] However, it also proved to be more labor intensive and expensive. Furthermore, the D.III fuselage was prone to twisting or warping from side to side as it aged,^[5] a defect variously attributed to the use of insufficiently seasoned wood or to moisture absorption in damp conditions.

The wings were of conventional construction, with a flush Teves und Braun radiator offset to the right side of the upper wing. The ailerons were of wooden construction, rather than the more conventional steel tube construction.^[6] The horizontal stabilizer had an inverted airfoil section, which facilitated dive recovery and permitted the use of an unbalanced elevator.^[6]

The Idflieg found the prototype promising. It directed Pfalz to halt production of the Roland D.III and to complete the balance of the contract, 70 aircraft, to the new design.^[3] After a Typenprüfung (type test) at Adlershof in May, the Idflieg ordered various modifications, including an enlarged rudder and horn-balanced ailerons.^[7] In June 1917, Pfalz received a second order for 300 aircraft.^[7]

Operational history

Pfalz D.IIIa (serial 8413/17) flown by Oberleutnant Walter Ewers of Jasta 77b. The aircraft displays hastily applied Balkenkreuz markings

Deliveries to operational units began in August 1917. Jasta 10 was the first recipient of the new aircraft, followed by Jasta 4. While markedly better than the earlier Roland designs, the D.III was generally considered inferior to the Albatros D.III and D.V. German pilots variously criticized the Pfalz’s heavy controls, low speed, lack of power, or low rate of climb compared to the Albatros.^[5]^[8]^[9] The D.III slipped in turns, leading to crashes when unwary pilots turned at very low altitudes.^[5]^[10] Moreover, the Pfalz stalled sharply and spun readily. Recovery from the resulting flat spin was difficult, though some pilots took advantage of this trait to descend quickly or evade enemy aircraft.^[11]

The Pfalz’s primary advantage was its strength and sturdiness. The Albatros scouts were plagued by failure of their single-spar lower wings.^[12] The Pfalz, however, could safely dive at high speeds due to its twin-spar lower wing.^[3]^[13] For this reason, the Pfalz was well-suited to diving attacks on observation balloons, which were usually heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns trained to the balloon's altitude.^[14]

D.IIIa

The most pressing complaint about the new Pfalz was that the guns were buried in the fuselage, preventing pilots from clearing gun jams in flight.^[4] This feature had been carried over from the earlier Roland designs.^[7] In November 1917, Pfalz responded by producing the slightly modified D.IIIa, which relocated the guns to the upper fuselage decking.^[4] The D.IIIa was distinguishable by its enlarged semicircular horizontal stabilizer and cropped lower wingtips.^[4] It also featured a more powerful version of the Mercedes D.III engine.

Pfalz built approximately 260 D.III and 750 D.IIIa aircraft.^[7] Most were delivered to Bavarian Jastas.^[15] Once Pfalz completed the final batch in May 1918,^[16] production shifted to the D.IIIa's successor, the D.XII. Some aircraft from the final D.IIIa batch were delivered to Turkey.^[16]

As of 30 April 1918, 433 D.IIIa scouts were still in frontline use.^[17] By 31 August, that number had declined to 166.^[17] Many serviceable aircraft were sent to advanced training schools, but approximately 100 aircraft remained in frontline use at the time of the Armistice.

Operators

German Empire

Luftstreitkräfte
Kaiserliche Marine

Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Air Force

Replica aircraft

Today, there are no known surviving D.III airframes. However, two flying replicas were built for the 1966 film The Blue Max. One replica was built from scratch, while a second was converted from a de Havilland Tiger Moth airframe. Both replicas are currently based in New Zealand.

Specifications (D.IIIa)

Data from German Aircraft of the First World War^[18]

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 6.95 m (22 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 9.4 m (30 ft 10 in)
Height: 2.67 m (8 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 22.17 m² (238.6 sq ft)
Empty weight: 695 kg (1,532 lb)
Gross weight: 933 kg (2,056 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes D.IIIa 6-cyl. water-cooled in-line piston engine, 130 kW (180 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 165 km/h; 89 kn (102.5 mph) at 3,048 m (10,000 ft)
- 147.3 km/h (92 mph) at 4,572 m (15,000 ft)
Endurance: ca. 2½ hours
Service ceiling: 5,182 m (17,001 ft)
Rate of climb: 3.67 m/s (722 ft/min)
Time to altitude:
- 1,524 m (5,000 ft) in 6 minutes 55 seconds
- 3,048 m (10,000 ft) in 17 minutes 30 seconds

Armament

Guns: 2 × 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 "Spandau" machine guns

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pfalz D.III.

Notes

↑ Herris 2001, p. 10.
↑ Herris 2001, pp. 27-28.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 VanWyngarden 2006, p. 18.
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Herris 2001, p. 30.
↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Herris 2001, pp. 61-62.
↑ 6.0 6.1 Gray and Thetford 1962, p. 188.
↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 VanWyngarden 2006, p. 19.
↑ Gray and Thetford 1962, p. 189.
↑ VanWyngarden 2006, pp. 50, 62.
↑ VanWyngarden 2006, p. 77.
↑ VanWyngarden 2006, pp. 45-46.
↑ Herris 2001, p. 29.
↑ Guttman 2005, p. 9.
↑ Guttman 2005, pp. 7-9.
↑ VanWyngarden 2006, p. 45.
↑ 16.0 16.1 Grosz 1995, p. 2.
↑ 17.0 17.1 Herris 2001, p. 154.
↑ Gray and Thetford 1962, p. 190.

Bibliography

Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1962. ISBN 0-933852-71-1.
Grosz, Peter M. Pfalz D.IIIa (Windsock Datafile No. 21). Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-948414-25-1.
Guttman, Jon. Balloon-Busting Aces of World War 1 (Aircraft of the Aces No. 66). Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-84176-877-4.
Herris, Jack. Pfalz Aircraft of World War I (Great War Aircraft in Profile, Volume 4). Boulder, Colorado: Flying Machine Press, 2001. ISBN 1-891268-15-5.
VanWyngarden, Greg. Pfalz Scout Aces of World War I (Aircraft of the Aces No. 71). Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-84176-998-3.

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Fighters	AEG D.I AEG Dr.I Albatros D.I Albatros D.II Albatros D.III Albatros D.V Aviatik D.I Aviatik C.VI Daimler L.6 Euler D.I Euler D.II Fokker D.I Fokker D.II Fokker D.III Fokker D.IV Fokker D.V Fokker D.VI Fokker D.VII Fokker D.VIII Fokker Dr.I Fokker E.I Fokker E.II Fokker E.III Fokker E.IV Fokker E.V Halberstadt D.II Hannover CL.II Hannover CL.III Hannover CL.IV Hannover CL.V Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 Junkers D.I Kondor D.6 Kondor E.III Naglo D.II Pfalz D.III Pfalz D.XII Pfalz Dr.I Pfalz E.I Pfalz E.II LFG Roland D.II LFG Roland D.VI Siemens-Schuckert D.I Siemens-Schuckert D.II Siemens-Schuckert D.III Siemens-Schuckert D.IV Siemens-Schuckert L.I Zeppelin-Lindau D.I

Bombers and Ground Attack	AEG DJ.I AEG G.I AEG G.II AEG G.III AEG G.IV AEG G.V AEG J.I AEG J.II AEG R.I Friedrichshafen G.II Friedrichshafen G.III Gotha G.I Gotha G.II Gotha G.III Gotha G.IV Gotha G.V Gotha GL.VII Gotha G.IX Hannover CL.II Junkers CL.I Junkers J.I Rumpler G.I Rumpler G.II Rumpler G.III Zeppelin-Lindau (Dornier) Rs.II Zeppelin-Lindau (Dornier) Rs.III Zeppelin-Lindau (Dornier) Rs.IV Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI

Reconnaissance	AEG B.I AEG B.II AEG B.III AEG C.I AEG C.II AEG C.III AEG C.IV AEG C.V AEG C.VI AEG C.VII AEG C.VIII AGO C.I AGO C.II AGO C.III AGO C.IV AGO C.VII AGO C.VIII Albatros B.I Albatros B.II Albatros C.I Albatros C.III Albatros C.V Albatros C.VII Albatros C.IX Albatros C.X Albatros C.XII Aviatik B.I Aviatik B.II Aviatik C.I Aviatik C.VI DFW C.V LFG Roland C.II LVG B.I LVG C.II Rumpler C.I Rumpler C.IV Rumpler Taube

Trainers	Euler D.I

Prototypes	Albatros C.II Fokker V.1 Fokker V.2 Junkers J 1 Junkers J 2 Zeppelin-Lindau (Dornier) Rs.I

v t e Aviation in World War I

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Idflieg D, DD- and DJ-class aircraft designations

D- and DD- class

AEG	D.I D.II D.III

Albatros	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII D.IX D.X D.XI D.XII

Aviatik	(D.I not assigned) D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII

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Junkers	D.I

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LVG	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI

MFW	D.I

Naglo	D.I D.II

Pfalz	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII D.IX D.X D.XI D.XII D.XIII D.XIV D.XV

Rumpler	D.I

Schütte-Lanz	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII

Siemens-Schuckert	D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI

Zeppelin-Lindau	D.I

DJ- class

AEG	DJ.I

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