One of the first serial armed German aircraft of World War I. The German Albatros C.I was a two-seat, all-wood reconnaissance aircraft in a biplane configuration. It was designed by engineer Robert Thelen as a development of the two-seat biplane Albatros DD, created just before the outbreak of World War I by engineer Ernst Heinkel.
According to the German nomenclature developed in the spring of 1915, category “C” designated a two-seat, armed biplane intended primarily for reconnaissance, artillery cooperation, with the capability to attack ground targets. Radio equipment also began to be installed on aircraft of this category.
Albatros C.I aircraft were produced between 1915 and 1916 at the Albatros Flugzeug Werke, BFW (Bay), LFG, MFW, and Merkur Flugzeugbau factories. One example was built at the Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke factory in Schneidemühl (now Pila). Production was halted, however, in favour of the more modern C.III version.
Polish aviation operated 49 Albatros C.I airframes. Most of them were machines seized by Poles in Greater Poland; several were captured in the Congress Kingdom and Lesser Poland. Due to their low performance, they were classified as aircraft for aviation schools. During the military operations of 1919-1920, they were used for combat flights. After the war, they served in schools in Warsaw, Poznan, Krakow, Bydgoszcz, Torun and Grudziadz. At the Military Pilot School in Grudziadz, the last Albatros C.I flew as late as 1922.
The exhibited Albatros C.I, number 197/15, comes from the third batch of deliveries from 1915. As research on the camouflage remnants of the restored fuselage has shown, this aircraft served at the Officer Training Unit for Aviation Radio Operators in Warsaw (occupied by Germany from 1915 to 1918), and later at the Neuruppin aviation school.
| Wingspan | 12,9 m |
| Length | 7,8 m |
| Takeoff weight | 1190 kg |
| Maximum speed | 140 km/h |
| Ceiling | 3000 m |
| Range | 380 km |
| Armament | 1 flexible Parabellum MG cal. 7.92 mm |
| Engine | 6-cylinder inline Benz Bz III, 160 hp (118 kW) |
In the Museum workshops, the damaged fuselage, powerplant and undercarriage were restored (replicas of so-called “workshop wheels” were recreated — these were used during ground manoeuvres to save rubber, which was a strategic resource in Germany during 1914-1918). The reconstruction of the tail unit and fuselage fairing is planned.
