Sunday, May 1, 2011

Austria 1917-1918 Phonix D- Series

The Phönix D-Class Fighter

This weekend I have been on an Austrian binge. I have been wanting to update some profiles and complete new ones. I found some old files I used on my original site over a decade ago and used them as a guide for fresh profiles.

Austria relied on German and Austrian aircraft designs for military use. Phönix, Lloyd, Aviatik, Lohner, and Hansa-Brandenburg produced some very original designs. Some were successful although many were not. The Phönix D series was one of the more successful designs.

The Phönix D.I was the second design developed by the Phönix Flugzeug-Werke based on Hansa-Brandenburg designs which it has produced under licence. The D.I was a single-seat biplane fighter with improvements over the original Hansa-Brandenburg design which included more efficient wings, a more powerful engine and structural improvements. A prototype was first flown in 1917 and proved to be fast but difficult to handle but because of the urgent need for fighters the D.I entered production.

To improve the control problems of the D.I a modified variant, the D.II was introduced with balanced elevators and balanced ailerons on the upper wings.

The Phönix D.III was the third design developed by the Phönix Flugzeug-Werke based on Hansa-Brandenburg designs which it has produced under license. The D.III was a single-seat biplane fighter with improvements over D.II which included more efficient wings, a more powerful 230hp (172kW) Hiero in-line engine. The Phönix D.III kept the structural improvements,and balanced elevators and balanced ailerons on the upper wings, used in the D.II. The last of 158 aircraft of all three types was delivered on 4 November 1918.

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