A copy of the Taube (Dove) aircraft, designed by the Austrian Igo Etrich in 1910. The wing outline of the Taube was modelled on the winged seed of the Zanonia macrocarpa palm, which provided excellent flying qualities. The aircraft became very popular, and its production was taken up by many German manufacturers (as Etrich’s design was not granted patent protection there).
It was used for many pioneering flights, and at the beginning of World War I it was one of the main types in service with the air forces of the Central Powers, serving for reconnaissance missions, including during the defence of Tsingtao (1914). Even earlier, during the war in Libya in 1911, it became the first aircraft used in combat when an Italian pilot bombed and strafed Turkish military positions with a pistol.
One of the German aviation pioneers who flew the Taube was Alfred Friedrich. In 1912, he received pilot licence No. 149 from the German Aviators’ Association (Deutsche Luftfahrer-Verband), having passed the examination on a Wright aircraft at Berlin’s Johannisthal airfield. He then took a position at the AFG factory’s flying school.
This pilot’s first notable achievement was setting a German flight duration record on 5 December 1912: 5 hours and 10 minutes. In the summer of the following year, A. Friedrich flew from Berlin to Insterburg (now Chernyakhovsk) in East Prussia, with only two intermediate landings.
On 5 July 1913, Alfred Friedrich together with Dr H. Elias, a well-known balloonist of the time, took off from Berlin in an Etrich Taube aircraft to fly to Paris. In the French capital, Dr H. Elias was replaced in the cockpit by the designer himself – Igo Etrich, and the crew then continued on to London. On 20 September, A. Friedrich landed back at Johannisthal airfield, completing the impressive “five countries flight” on the route Berlin – Paris – London – Antwerp – Nijmegen – Hanover – Berlin.
After the end of World War I, A. Friedrich established a small factory, Flugzeugbau Alte Adler, in Strausberg near Berlin. The workshop produced copies of aircraft used during the war, including for film productions. In 1932, he built a copy of the Etrich Taube in its 1913 version, with a modified landing gear layout compared to the original. Officially cleared for flight and registered with the markings D-EFRI, Friedrich’s Taube participated in numerous air shows until 1936, after which it entered the German Aviation Exhibition collection. During the war, it suffered serious damage. In 1945, it was found in the Greater Poland region.
| Wingspan | 14.22 m |
| Length | 9.85 m |
| Takeoff weight | 700 kg |
| Maximum speed | 96 km/h |
| Ceiling | – |
| Range | – |
| Armament | – |
| Engine | 6-cylinder inline liquid-cooled Mercedes D II with 120 hp (82 kW) output |
