The Aviatik C.III aerial reconnaissance aircraft was built in 1916 at the Aviatik-Flugzeugwerke plant in Leipzig and was an improved version of the earlier C.I variant used by German aviation since 1915.
The C.III version, like its predecessor C.I, was not mass-produced – only 80 examples were built between 1916 and 1917. This was due to a decision made in the final months of 1916 to redirect the Aviatik factory’s production capacity to the licensed manufacture of the more modern and operationally useful DFW C.V aircraft.
The Aviatik C.III airframe differed from earlier versions by an improved nose fairing, the addition of a propeller spinner and radio equipment. During World War I, Aviatik C.III aircraft were used by German air units as reconnaissance machines and occasionally as escorts.
In 1919, 7 Aviatik aircraft were seized in Greater Poland by the Polish military authorities, and 3 of them were subsequently transferred to the Pilots’ School in Poznan-Lawica. Captain pilot Wiktor Lang was killed in action on 4 February 1920 while flying the airframe numbered 12342/17. The remaining four aircraft were probably never used.
The exhibited fuselage of the single-engine, all-wooden biplane Aviatik C.III with serial number C12250/17 dates from 1917 and is a unique specimen on a global scale. Radio installation traces discovered during restoration indicate that this machine was used either at a radio operators’ school or as a reconnaissance aircraft on the Western Front.
| Wingspan | 11.8 m |
| Length | 8.1 m |
| Takeoff weight | 1314 kg |
| Maximum speed | 160 km/h |
| Ceiling | 4500 m |
| Range | 3 hours of flight |
| Armament | 1 flexible Parabellum 7.92 mm machine gun |
| Engine | 6-cylinder, inline Mercedes D.III with 160 hp (118 kW) output |
