Kondor D.II

History

The Kondor Flugzeugwerke des Deutschen Reichs failed in their early attempts to bring viable triplane and biplane fighters into the arms of the First World War (1914-1918) with their "Dreidecker" and "D.I" products. This led to progressive work on the latter, resulting in the "D.II" form, a branch that was essentially a direct evolution of D.I, which ultimately failed even in the performance category.

The D.2 took part in the second "D-Type Fighter Competition" planned for June 1918, but even this design failed to make the right impression in the ongoing war - which diverted the Germans' initiative.

Compared to the earlier D.I, the D.II incorporates a revised double spar under-spar layout and parallel struts. The wingspans vary, and the engines are mounted on the nose as usual.

The landing gear remained fixed (rolled up on the main unit) and in a "stern" arrangement, while the pilot sat in the single-seat open-air cockpit above the midship. Power comes from a 110-horsepower Oberursel Ur II rotary engine instead of the 100-hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine fitted to the D.I prototype.

However, like the D.I, the weapon of choice is 2 x LMG 08/15 machine guns, synchronised to fire through rotating propeller blades.

The D.II was sent into the air to fight the D-Type competition and made its maiden flight in May 1918. Two prototypes ("D.I w/n 200" and "D.I w/n 201") were tested at Aldershof in June 2018 and subsequently formally evaluated - the main difference is obviously that the former has ailerons and four trailing edges and the latter only on the upper wing element.

Once again, the Kondor's design failed to gain approval from German authorities, who said the fighter, despite generally good flight characteristics, lacked combat performance.

This was the death knell for D.II, and no further development work was done on the genre.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes