Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms Space By Flag By Year By Tag

Euler D.I

1917 WORLD WAR 1

History

During the air battles of the First World War (1914-1918), Euler Works of the German Empire, as one of several companies, was given the task of designing a "combat reconnaissance aircraft" based on the excellent French Newport 11 Fighting biplanes "Babe" for the purposes of the Germans in the conflict. The Bebe first appeared in January 1916 and proved very helpful in ending the German Fork rule - known as the "Fokker Scourge", which ran from August 1915 to early 1916.

The same single-seat, single-engine configuration with biplane wings was used to produce Euler D.I. V struts to support the upper and lower wing members and an Oberursel U.O. 7-cylinder rotary engine rated at 80 hp was chosen to power the biblade, to drive the wooden propeller unit located in the nose. As usual, the pilot sits behind the engine compartment and under/behind the upper wing section. Some of the wing elements have been cut away to make it easier to observe the action above the plane.

The tail uses a small-area rudder, the horizontal plane is set low, and the aircraft operates on the ground through the traditional tail resistance arrangement.

Like the Nieuport 11, the D.I carried a 7.92mm machine gun mounted above the engine and fired synchronously through the rotating propeller blades.

The plane can reach a top speed of 87 miles per hour and reach an altitude of 2,000 meters in just over 12 minutes.

The first flight of the D.I prototype was recorded in the fall of 1916. In October of the same year, the German authorities were pleased with the progress made by the DI and ordered about 50 aircraft even before the DI was actually put to the test.

A pair of prototypes served as combat trainers until the end of the year, but the formally required tests were not carried out until January 1917. An additional 50 aircraft have been added to the existing order, but these have been filled out in the detailed D.II standard form elsewhere on this page.

Euler D.I had little, if any, impact on the war.