*'Greg Strikes Again!'* 'The Empire of Aeronautical Ignorance' takes yet another hit! Greg saves us all from 'terminal boredom'. After my stroke Greg literally saved my sanity and humor. Ex RAF Flight Sgt! Love this man and his Virgo level perfectionism and obsessive attention to important details. Catnip for so many of us!
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles You are welcome sir and thank you again! I wish I could contribute more than just an opinion! I mean't every word I wrote. People like you and the 'History of the German's' 'Dirk', provide we, the less than very wealthy citizenry, a FREE, Elite level of education at Oxford and Cambridge (or MIT or Harvard) level's of insight. All online and so it deserves far more support. You are the model of what the internet is FOR in it's best iteration!
@@BenJamInn-q3oHere it is! ua-cam.com/video/4VYyMusLTuk/v-deo.htmlsi=TWx31CjE0n3GaHvW if you want a DEEP DIVE into German history from about 800 until Bismark, here you go. About 190 episodes, done like Greg, in the most revealing detail. My 83 year old German Mom now shares this with me, Like Greg shares his love and intimate EXPERIENCED knowledge of airplanes etc with us. Another odyssey for us!
I love the way the Albatros looks. That smooth wooden fuselage would look great in a low-wing monoplane configuration. Even the engine sticking out of the cowling looks like a muscle car's supercharger poking out the hood.
As a mechanical engineer I still often fall for the traps that many of your commenters fall for "Hey dummy water cools better than glycol so it doesn't let you have a smaller radiator" But I am old enough to know how important it is to "Know the rest of the story". I learn something every time I listen to you. I am a huge fan
When I first learned wrenching as an apprentice, I remember my teacher drumming into us that the green stuff isn't just antifreeze - it's also anti-boil and corrosion inhibitor. And it's the anti-boil that makes the difference more often than not, because the greater the temp delta, the more efficient the system becomes.
Greg, I am old fart of 82. I wasn't too bad of a shade tree mechanic, although I haven't turned a wrench in a long time. Anyway, I couldn't figure out how the modern engines could run at such high temperatures. Thank you for your explanation of my question. I grew up in Wyoming and have lived in Montana all of my adult life. I really enjoy your videos, especially those about the two World War airplanes. I was never financially able to get involved in hot rods. My first car was a '52 Ford flat head V8, and my present car is 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee. With a stay at home wife and three kids, there wasn't any money for hot rods.
@@DuffusMonkey i think l it's because of specific heat of water being high: lots of energy to raise water to a higher temperatue compared to other fluids. It's the boiling point that is forgotten.
There’s a reason why old pilots referred to their planes as ‘kites’. They were only a generation or two away from actual kites, and made from similar materials.
Greg, you touched on the advantages of tactics of German fliers in WWI, but I believe this deserves greater emphasis. Oswald Bohlke developed a systematic training program based on principles that are still used today, and this gave German pilots a huge training advantage over their Allied counterparts. As I'm sure you know, Bohlke noted that most of the pilots who were shot down were rookies. If a pilot could survive 3 aerial combats, his chances of surviving many, many more combat encounters (which necessitated shooting down his opponents, of course) was much, much higher than the newbies. Bohlke developed the first school of mock combat to give his trainees that experience in "winning" mock dogfights and thereby enhancing their chances in real combat. Air forces around the world still use those principles today in fighter pilot training.
Trading up to the 2nd wwwas preety poor all round. Which is why the Germans and Japanese who had a lot of battle experienced and who did not have any stupid rule about talking shop in the mess did much better early on in the war.
Same idea behind the US Navy's Top Gun school: get your first batch of "combat" missions in school, survive the real thing. Amazing how lessons have to keep getting relearned.
I always thought it was a shame that the rest of the Albatross didn't live up to its fuselage. IMHO, it was the prettiest fuselage of the day. I love your early statement about how the engine ruined some engineers day. Good stuff Greg!
As a youngster, I obsessed over WW I Aircraft. I built the models & read the boxes. I even checked out library books on the subject. Finally, in my 70's, you put out these wonderful videos!
I read somewhere that the aviator’s scarf also prevented the laceration of the neck from the leather coat. They had no rear-view mirror, so they had their heads on pivot constantly
I seem to remember from somewhere, that protecting neck skin from irritation was the main reason for pilot scarfs and that was the reason why those white scarfs had to be a very high quality silk, as a result extremely valuable and sooth after piece, since it was much smaller than pilots leather jacket and easier to conceal, those scarfs were primary target for liberation by people.
After this video I can see how the scarf was used for cleaning. When the flight starts, one end is just long enough to get the windscreen and as the flight went on, they would adjust the scarf so a clean section was ready, the dirty part trailing in the airstream. Otherwise, why so long?
Robert S. Johnson, a P-47 ace in WWII, wrote about wearing pilots wearing silk scarves to prevent their necks from being rubbed raw by the wool collars on the jackets. Keeping one's head on the swivel was a constant.
Alot of pilots in WW2 talk about wearing silk scarfs to protect their neck from chafing. Although those are normally small demure affairs that barely stick out of their collar. I'm sure chafing was also a factor in WW1, but the large, long scarfs they wore surely had a reason to be so - and wiping oil away would be a perfect explanation.
The Albatross variants that were built under license by the Austrians were pretty first-rate machines when compared to their German stablemates. The Austrians cured the design flaw of the Albatross’ lower wing by moving its wing spar forward, which cured the flutter problem that beset the D III and D V models. This redesign enabled the Austrian Albatross to dive faster than the German models. They also equipped it with a more powerful engine in a more streamlined arrangement, which cut the aircraft’s drag. In general, the Austrian machines were stronger faster and more reliable than their German counterparts. During Poland’s war with Communist Russia, which was fought in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, the Austrian variant of the Albatross was very popular among the Polish aviators who flew them in action, where they were considered tough and dependable.
@nigellawson8610 Oeffag produced, I believe. They also, at least some of them, had their twin machine guns 'buried' in the fuselage and they redesigned the radiator, both of which improved drag performance. Rather frustratingly, I've been unable to find performance figures specific to the Austrian Albatros models.
@@paladin56 The two main sources (Karl Meindl and Petr Aharon Tesař) state a max speed of 170km/h for the Albatros D.II series 53, 174km/h for the D.III series 53.2 with the same 185hp Austro-Daimler engine, 188km/h for the series 153.01-153.111 with a new 200hp engine, 191km/h for the planes on the 153.112-153.281 series implementing the new rounded nose cowling and finally the 253 series with the 225hp engine capable of reaching a speed of 202+ km/h
It is not only about parameters, also user interface, ergonomy, view from plane, reliability, ease of maintenance... Many guys just look at speed or armament, but there are so many things that influence combat effectivity :)
F6F is another example, often criticized for being relatively slow for a late war fighter but it's success was due to its other qualities than raw "video game stats"
Much like the German Panzer III tanks having a 6:1 kill ratio against T-34 in the first year of the Russo-German despite vastly superior Armour and guns on the T-34. The German Tanks had vastly superior ergonomics, a superior 3 man turrets versus 2 man with an excellent drill, much better wide view optics for the commander, a viewing cupola for the commander, good radios. The Germans usually got first shot first kill, found T-34 situational awareness was so bad they could shoot without being seen by the Russian tank. They even joined within Russian formations and fired from behind.
Greg is (as usual) spot on Hot Rod. Comparing the engine in a race car to the science of aircraft engines is like comparing anvils to watermelons. What you know to be true about an engine that is required to operate at a single altitude for about 20 minutes tops just doesn't translate to one that has to fly to the target, engage the enemy at high output, and then cruise back home several hours at a range of altitudes from sea level to 25,000 feet.
The reason you run only water on a drag strip is so if something happens and it boilover or spills on the track its not a slippery chemical spill its just water The really fast cars dont run long enough to need cooling and just use bigger oil pans, heavier blocks and sheer mass of metal to run for the 30-60 seconds at a time its required.
A decade ago I had to have a surgery that required a lengthy recovery, 14 weeks, so I went looking for projects to fill my time. I somehow landed at Harbor Freight of all places who had this “Legends of the Air” series of small wooden aircraft models. Best part is they were like $1.99 each, 6 different types, this was one of them. I picked up 5 of each of each of them, given how cheap they were, and built myself one hell of an Air Force over the months that followed. HF doesn’t seem to sell them anymore, but they’re on eBay, pick some up, they’re a blast.
Re the US Air Corps switch to ethylene glycol cooling: this was based on tests conducted at Wright Field in 1931 by English engineer and designer for Curtiss Sam D. Heron. He was looking down the road to 1,000 hp for 350 mph fighters and was convinced that for a compact liquid cooled engine to achieve this it would come with high operating temps. As a result Curtiss stopped the development of their Conqueror engine, since it developed coolant leaks when switched from water to ethylene glycol@ 300 degrees.
To amplify this comment “The Horsepower Race” Calum E. Douglas has a lot of information about the development of high temperature high pressure cooling systems, which are A Big Deal in Gregspeak.
When the coolant temp exceeds desirable oil temp you only end up with a big oil cooler and an oil/liquid cooled engine. 220 degrees is about the limitv after which you are trading a smaller radiator for a bigger area of oil cooler
Nicely argued. Oswald Boelke was generally regarded as the father of fighter tactics, and he taught all those fighter leaders (like the Baron) you mention. As an aside (being as it is not a DIII) concerning the lower wing flutter problem, the DVA has a little strut between the bottom of the front interplane strut and the wing leading edge and that mod, introduced for the purpose, did a lot to reduce the flutter. Thank you for the explanation of glycol, I too have heard all the nay sayers but had not yet discovered the advantage.
I read a pilot’s report of the DVa, he said that there was a significant amount of structural movement in the elegant fuselage, which made it somewhat disconcerting to fly. He also said that flying the SE5a was akin to flying a much more modern design. Another great video, Greg, I learned things I never knew, and that’s after forty years of reading and studying all aspects of aviation history. I’m always quick on the play trigger when I see you’ve uploaded a new video. Thank you and keep up the great work!
What I like about this channel is that, over the years, you've created a robust set of tools which allow for detailed - and often surprising - analytical results about the performance of all kinds of aircraft. As somebody who began building model airplanes at age 8, I really appreciate all that you do. Keep up the good work.
Enjoying these WWI videos, was a weak spot in my warplane knowledge. Also, got to laugh at those arrogant 'know-it-alls', when they just can't help themselves to tell you, "You're wrong", lol! I knew the specific heat capacity of pure H2O was greater than any antifreeze formulations but as an engineer, I immediately told myself, "I must be missing something because there "Always" is some other extenuating factor, he he!" Thanks for explaining the difference in detail, I forgot about the operating temp differences combined with the different boiling points.
Excellent video! You hit it spot on…the success of this aircraft was most certainly due to the superior tactics and training of the German pilots during that period of the war. Boelcke wrote the book on air combat and the German Air Force embraced his “dictates”. You can have the best fighter going, but if you don’t know how to engage you are not going to be successful.
Keep up the good work Greg.The debate on the p forty seven was outstanding. You make aviation history exciting as well as accurate.And that's more important than people realize.Thank you
Great video, Greg, as always! And as an enthusiastic giant scale RC modeler (for both WWI and WWII Big Iron which is my favorite era...) I'm always torn between the Nieuport 28 and the Albatross DVa as the most elegant, beautiful WWI birds out there to model. Since my daughter is going into the AF, I think the next project will be a 1/3 scale Nieuport 28. So many wonderful airplanes, so little time... Can you imagine being sent aloft as a low-time pilot in a 1912 BE2 against the hungry wolves flying the Albatross? Bad enough having to fly airplanes that could barely hold together with only 20-30 hours of flight time under your belt, in an open-air cockpit in the cold skies of Europe. It was practically a suicide mission. Perhaps a better tactic would have been to send them up as bait with a fighter squadron escort flying high cover and waiting for the vultures to circle then pouncing. Given the relative importance of pilot training, combat experience, as well as aircraft performance, I'd love to have to also do some videos on the evolution of fighter tactics in each of the eras. Another great topic for your insightful, well-researched treatment. Timing-wise (fact check required!) I also imagine the introduction of the Fokker DVII might also have left the Albatross pilots feeling even more disappointed given the performance that plane brought to the German squadrons. So many interesting aviation stories from this early era of rapid progress. Thanks for all your efforts from your many devoted fans!
Outstanding as usual! Another reason for the silk scarf was that many of the pilots were issued wool uniform jackets, thus keeping their head on the swivel tended to rub the neck a bit raw. Silk or I expect even quality cotton would solve this.
If you can find a copy, read the novel "Goshawk Squadron". It's protagonist in one memorable scene explains to a staff officer exactly why his pilots need silk scarves.
@@FelixstoweFoamForge- Excellent book ! I 'borrowed' it 40 years ago and still read it every year or so . I love the way Woolley describes the S.E.5a's stability !
Do they really run straight water, or do they add something like water wetter. When I did motorcycle road course track days I always ran water + water wetter. Had to, as straight water would boil. Water wetter was useless as an antifreeze, but it raised the boiling temp, and evaporated with the water if you spilled it, not leaving a slick mess on the tarmac the way ethylene glycol does.
Normally a story that starts going down rabbit holes of long and pointless explanations are simply transparent attempts to extend the video length. But your background on radiators, ethylene glycol, and such were applicable, interesting, and addressed questions I've had bouncing around in my head ever since I was a kid building models of planes and wondering why they designed them the way they did. I built my first model of an Albatros in 1963 and this has completed that little journey, if you know what I mean. The chart at 20:14 is very interesting. Thanks much.
It's great to have a well reasoned analysis, including areas of uncertainty, based on primary sources. You give us information and insights just not available anywhere else. Thank you so much!
Manfred von Richthofen most notable victory was shooting down the British ace Lanoe Hawker in late November 1916. Richtofen was flying an Albatross DII while Hawker was flying an Airco DH2 pusher. Richtofen and Hawker became engaged in a lengthy turning fight while the prevailing west wind pushed them deeper into German territory. Eventually Hawker had to break off and make a run for it, at which point Richtofen's albatross had no problem running him down. The DH2 had been an effective response to the Fokker Eindecker, but by late 1916 it was sadly lacking when confronting the albatross.
Around 7:00 minutes in you mention solving flutter with strengthening, I suspect that was a slip of the tongue and you meant to say “stiffening”. Excellent video as always!!
I enjoyed this video very much. Your enthusiasm and passion for history and especially aviation history clearly shines through these videos. Knowledge instructs, and passion ingrains; you, good sir, show a wonderful balance of both.
Total personal view but the Albatros series is one of, if not, the most gorgeous aircraft of the time. I was surprised to hear the beautiful streamlined fuselage didn't result in a faster speed but thanks for pointing out why that isn't the case.
What an excellent video! Thanks very much. I have read many WWI pilots memoirs, and histories of the era - but you provide something new and different - and which makes a lot of sense. Please keep these WWI videos coming...
One other point on cooling - the liquid cooled engines of WW2 used the radiator installation to generate a low-pressure jet which provided some extra thrust. This was known as the Meredith effect after the engineer who thought of it.
Meredith showed that even putting heat into a streamlined wing would increase its drag, while a radiator enclosed in a suitable duct could generate modest thrust, effectively a subsonic ram jet.
21:13 I am pleased to hear a Spad video may still be on the books. Tremendous video, as ever. This period of weird, semi-unscientific fighter design is fascinating.
Once again another great video, lots of detail well explained. As usual I learned a lot. I've never really understood why the Albatros was so successful just comparing performance numbers with those of its principal Allied rivals. Thanks again Greg!
Very interesting. I build the Airfix model of the Albatros when I was a kid. RAF never learnt the lesson of WW1 & kept sending up Blenheim's to be shot down in WW2 they knew they were obsolete but the production line keep going rather than shut it down to produce newer aircraft.
@FredScuttle456 True, but the OP seems to suggest that waving a magic wand would have produced instant squadrons of Mosquitos. Also, the RAF was not alone in having to send vulnerable bombers into enemy airspace, only to suffer heavy losses. Every major combatant indulged in this.
This was a neat coincidence considering I've just been watching some WW1 fighter sim footage lately. And just yesterday read stuff on the Albatrosses. I've always liked the looks of this plane, even if it might not have been the best plane ever.
Bravo on an excellent video. As you mentioned earlier in the vid, the dual machine guns were likely another reason for high kills. When jumped, the first few seconds of firing could be critical, not to mention delivering more rounds per second during a dog fight.
I was wondering about the guns, too. In the old Avalon Hill game “Richtofen’s War,” that’s what I remember most, the mismatch between twin Spandaus and a single Vickers.
I just wish to say "thank you" for all that excellent material, no doubdtedly a result of meticulous research & deep knowledge of the matter! Thank you very much, Greg!
😎👍Very cool and very nicely greatly wonderfully well informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and format provided on the "Albatross D.3-DVa", A job very nicely fabulously well done indeed Sir!👌.
Greg, another great video. Thanks for sharing! As you point out… it’s not only having the best equipment…. It is also about what you can bring to the fight. Sometimes having good enough in sufficient quantity wins the day. Thanks again… chuck
For the modelers out there. There is a nice video of the building of a Albatros DVa on UA-cam by Luis P. Igualada in stop motion to waltz music. Straus l think.
Great video and detailed description of the engine. Would be great to hear about the starter system the Germans used on their inline engine planes. As far as I understand, they didn't pulled the prop with hot mags to start but instead had this "Anlassmagnet" in the cockpit.
Some rail use diesels still have the cylinders as their own thing. The blocks aren't even cast, but are instead weldments that old the cylinders or "power assemblies" that contain their own cooling jacket.
The Albatros is certainly one of the most beautiful planes of WWI. My favorite plane of the war is the Siemens-Schuckert D.III. Thanks for this interesting and informative video.
Greg, as the air pressure drops the boiling point will drop so to raise the boiling point up something has to be added to water, it's a well known phenomenon in chemistry. The same addition also lowers the freezing point.
Awesome video. This has always been one of my favorites, especially seeing, and even getting to do a tiny bit of work on one at Old Rheinbeck Aerodrome when I was a boy. Have you ever done a video on my other favorite, the Maachi M-5 seaplane fighter. To me it is perhaps even more beautiful. I can’t find much published about it. Although Italian, it was used by American forces in the Mediterranean and Adriatic theatres, and supposedly had performance equaling many land plane opponents. I think it would make a great video!
Absolutely outstanding presentation on an aircraft I've always been fond of and very informative about the whole biplane era . Thx. Keep up the good work 👍
Loving these WWI aircraft videos Greg, keep it up 👍What could possibly be next? Spad XIII? Nieuport, SE5, Gotha, Pfalz???? Saying that I do realize that sources and specific topics for these old aircraft must be tough to come by.
Great video. Despite not actually being more aerodynamic than it's contemporaries, the Albatross designs were certainly beautiful to behold and quite sleek in appearance. That doesn't make it a better fighter, but it certainly makes it a joy to see. I like how you emphasize "nuance" when it comes to comparing aircraft performance. Us aviation enthusiasts can sometimes get too attached to the raw numbers. It's a shame that this aircraft is less well known in the general public. I'm thinking of that horrendous World War 1 fighter combat movie that was a CGI mess where every German fighter was depicted as a red Fokker Triplane from some years ago! World War I fighters were a fascinating and diverse group of aircraft, where designers were trying out just about every idea they could conceive of, in an attempt to create a successful design. You capture that fact very well in your videos. So nice to see WW1 fighters (and aircraft in general) getting some love!
A video on the Halberstadt D.II would be intriguing, it is a lesser talked about german WWI era aircraft, which seemed to be one of the first aircraft used after the Fokker Scourge.
Seemed a big jump in maneuverability to the Eindekker, similar to the Albatross aircraft. But the Halberstadt D.II was underpowered in the engine, and only had one machine gun.
Thanks Greg for explaining why the sleek and "modern" looking Albatross was so slow. I read once that the plane had structural issues involving the tail falling off under high stress maneuvers. 10:55 of course is when the wife walks in. Thanks Greg!
Hi, Greg, I was going to comment on the Oeffag version of the D-III but if you've got a feature coming up about it I'll wait. I think your research will show that Austrian designers managed to turn it into a whole new airplane! As far as why wing failure didn't greatly affect the D-III but was very serious with the D-V( 23 pilots killed in the first three months of service), this is from Kookaburra Technical Pub.-"the up-rated power of the Mercedes combined with an increase in weight produced a performance that approached the critical limitations of the wing structure, with the result that maneuvers that were quite acceptable in the D-III became hazardous when attempted in the D-V."
You could probably look at the Oeffag version as being like the later marks of the Mustang or ME 109. It shares the name and general shape of the original but also kind of becomes its own airplane.
It’s hard to put into words the total chaos that was aircraft design in World War One. Well said, but you do an excellent job of sorting it out for us, Greg. Here’s a question for you: Do you think in relative terms there was more progress/ advancement in aircraft design in 1914-1918 or 1939-1945? If I discount the limited introduction of jet aircraft (in other words ignoring something that actually happened) I’d say it was the earlier period, but I’d love to hear your expert opinion. I appreciate all your videos but really love the ones focusing on pre-WWII planes. Cheers.
as you've got to the engine part i realized that i'd love to hear your analysis of the Hispano-Suiza HS-31 engine which was quite a revolutionary design at the time of it's intoduction.
The 100 hour vs. 20 hour TBO would have a dramatic effect on dispatch rates, too. If you can put more aircraft up , day after day, then you are going to have more opportunities for victories.
I might add --just for shucks -- that not only does running the engine at a higher temperature using ethylene glycol and higher pressures help drag -- you can also get more power out of the thing due to better overall thermal efficiency.
"... idea that planes should look like birds." FWIW that's a pic of the German Taube ("Dove") and despite the bird name, the wing shape was based on a type of flying seed rather than a bird's wing. Not necessarily the best plan to base your wing on a seed, but not entirely crazy since those seeds can at least glide pretty well.
We drive WWI era Model T's and actually water works better than water with anti-freeze in the original configuration. However many Model T's have non-factory accessory water pumps which allow for the water/antifreeze to properly circulate. The problem with the water pumps is that if they go bad, the circulation stops completely and you don't have a temp gauge to know it. An advantage of anti-freeze is that it reduces corrosion and is good for cold climates.
On the boiling point point, there is also the fact that higher coolant temps have a greater difference to the ambient temperature enabling greater transfer rate of the heat energy. Calum Douglas’ book The Secret Horsepower race goes into these issues in reasonable depth as the german aircraft designers felt that their aircraft were having too much excess drag by having larger radiators than the Allies. They did not run their engines at higher coolant pressures as the cooling systems leaked.
page 336, English engines, presumably Merlins, running 140 degrees C at 6 atmospheres(!) German engines quoted at 115 degreesC and struggling to run 4 atmospheres. Given that the source is a record of acrimonious meetings, there may not be much accuracy in the numbers , but the differences between the two approaches is clear.
Good video. Most of what I've read suggests that the Albatross came out after the Allies were winning back the skies, and that the Albatross D.III had the climb advantage e.g. 16500 ft in 20-24 minutes depending on engine version 10000ft in 9-11 minutes, speeds from 109 up to 125.5mph (serial #253, also best in climb, serial #153 being in the middle ranges), and the initial dive advantage, but that the advantages faded when newer Allied planes began showing up in numbers. It simply took a while for the Spad and Camel to be put against the Albatross in significant numbers.
Is the Saturday cartoon animation styling refer to Johnny Quest? That was the first thing that came into my mind especially with the "Shadow of the Condor" Episode where Race Bannon and the "Baron" had a dog fight using WWI aircraft.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles OK, just from memory... Tom Slick Tom Slick.. In the Thunderbolt grease slapper he is on you tail.....I know the rest by heart. Question, I am the CEO of a museum that I think you would be interested in visiting. What is the best way for me to contact you and maintain your privacy? I can give you the museums web site if you wish, but I am sensitive to any concerns you may have with that COA.
Absolutely right. Especially when you've given the sources & reasoning for your information, those who disagree should play by the same rules and give their sources/reasoning. Not just the standard 'no you're wrong' & run away. Thank you for giving us the hows & whys Greg, information we can use to make up our own minds. Not just some random facts thrown together.
Greg I am sure someone has already posted this but here goes. Most sanctioning bodies restrict or forbid the use of coolant other than water as they are very slippery and do not evaporate quickly if at all. I know I know oil can be cooled but we haven't found a replacement for that yet. Thanks for the videos always learning something new.
Jim, people keep telling me that, but have you been to a test and tune? I have many times, there is no rule forbidding coolant on the track. Now maybe at some NHRA even with really high powered stuff they may have such a rule, but not for the typical weekend type events I go to coolant is the norm.
You make a good point there. Many aircraft have crashed as a result of aerodynamic flutter. Purely because it can becomeso violent that it tears pieces off the aircraft.
A good picture that it is not the hardware that wins but experience and tactics. High mechanical availability is also important. Should be interesting to carry out the number of missions and flight time between the aircraft.
Considering that the first successful powered flight was in 1903, the leaps in engineering is pretty impressive. They could have had a better thicker airfoil and stronger wings, etc, etc, but airplane evolution was still really fast.
great in depth info; very interesting the 180 hp engine longevity compared to other engines/types. Yes the albatross success was shooting down BE 2 and FE2, no question. Hawker went down in his FE2 to an albatross Baron. However the albatross was one of the heaviest airplane of the war (1550 lbs) had the inferior seisquiplane set up and the large empennage no one ever seems to talk about. The Baron did not like the DVa, so he flew the problematic DR1.
At 4:40 you see an Albatros in Polish Markings of the Kościuszko squadron. Several were captured when Poland captured the Airfield in Poznań after the uprising, similar aquisitions happened in Autria-Hungary controlled Kraków in the south of Poland.
Great stuff! I had never really thought about ethylene glycol and how it could allow for smaller radiators. The greater the temperature delta between the fluid and the outside air, the more effective the cooling of the fluid.
6:55 Can't say I have ever heard of the Falls(z?) manufacturer!😮 Greg please do a video on the history of how NACA came about, about NACA itself, and how it evolved into NASA. That would be a big BIG _dirty_ stick to whip the keyboard commandos with.😊👍🏻 Plus that organization absolutely deserves a well researched and well presented history and I can't think of _anyone_ who could do a better job of documenting that part of aeronautical engineering history.🙏😇
If you are looking up Falls you will have a hard time. It is spelled Pfalz. The Pfalz DIII/DIIIa is kind of like the Hurricane if the Albatros was the Spitfire of the day. The DIIIa was past it's prime by the end of the war but I still don't think it gets the love it deserves.
@Mgnostic THAT would be why I couldn't find anything.😂 Thanks. Now that I see the name I have seen just a little about them but it would probably all fit on a postcard.
The bi-plane layout big top wing, small bottom wing was to keep the two wings as a structural truss but reduce the interference drag of the lower wings low pressure gradient overlapping the upper wings high pressure gradient. Since the low pressure gradients lean forward over the wing a stagger wing does this better but has pilot vision problems such as with the De Havilland scout D5 or the Sopwith Dolphin.
Radiators and oil coolers are counterintuitive regarding drag. For WW2 engines, one would think that opening them up, allowing more flow, would reduce drag. In reality, the outlet flaps that typically control the flow seem to induce more drag than one would expect as they open. Might be a pic for a video, also might be a bit too exotic.
10:32 "Listen up, Hot Rod."
Never change Greg, never change.
I agree, best reality check I've ever heard/read!
I'm jealous, I want to be one of those people who got called "Hot Rod" by Greg. :(
spot on
@@Anacronianno you dont.....they get sent to bed without dinner!
Greg will only tolerate hot rodding fiats, alfas and lancias, maybe a maserati or ferrari if you have money to burn
*'Greg Strikes Again!'* 'The Empire of Aeronautical Ignorance' takes yet another hit! Greg saves us all from 'terminal boredom'. After my stroke Greg literally saved my sanity and humor. Ex RAF Flight Sgt! Love this man and his Virgo level perfectionism and obsessive attention to important details. Catnip for so many of us!
Wow, thanks very much.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles You are welcome sir and thank you again! I wish I could contribute more than just an opinion! I mean't every word I wrote. People like you and the 'History of the German's' 'Dirk', provide we, the less than very wealthy citizenry, a FREE, Elite level of education at Oxford and Cambridge (or MIT or Harvard) level's of insight. All online and so it deserves far more support. You are the model of what the internet is FOR in it's best iteration!
@vladdrakul7851 what are you referring to with the "history of the Germans'Dirk"???
@@BenJamInn-q3oHere it is! ua-cam.com/video/4VYyMusLTuk/v-deo.htmlsi=TWx31CjE0n3GaHvW if you want a DEEP DIVE into German history from about 800 until Bismark, here you go. About 190 episodes, done like Greg, in the most revealing detail. My 83 year old German Mom now shares this with me, Like Greg shares his love and intimate EXPERIENCED knowledge of airplanes etc with us. Another odyssey for us!
@BenJamInn-q3o
There’s a very serious and detailed podcast of that name. It’s degree level material, not History Channel stuff
I love the way the Albatros looks. That smooth wooden fuselage would look great in a low-wing monoplane configuration. Even the engine sticking out of the cowling looks like a muscle car's supercharger poking out the hood.
You said it better than I could, “muscle car”👍
As a mechanical engineer I still often fall for the traps that many of your commenters fall for "Hey dummy water cools better than glycol so it doesn't let you have a smaller radiator" But I am old enough to know how important it is to "Know the rest of the story". I learn something every time I listen to you. I am a huge fan
When I first learned wrenching as an apprentice, I remember my teacher drumming into us that the green stuff isn't just antifreeze - it's also anti-boil and corrosion inhibitor. And it's the anti-boil that makes the difference more often than not, because the greater the temp delta, the more efficient the system becomes.
Greg, I am old fart of 82. I wasn't too bad of a shade tree mechanic, although I haven't turned a wrench in a long time. Anyway, I couldn't figure out how the modern engines could run at such high temperatures. Thank you for your explanation of my question. I grew up in Wyoming and have lived in Montana all of my adult life.
I really enjoy your videos, especially those about the two World War airplanes. I was never financially able to get involved in hot rods. My first car was a '52 Ford flat head V8, and my present car is 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee. With a stay at home wife and three kids, there wasn't any money for hot rods.
@@DuffusMonkey i think l it's because of specific heat of water being high: lots of energy to raise water to a higher temperatue compared to other fluids. It's the boiling point that is forgotten.
@@aussiebloke609 Don't overlook the anti-corrosion for cooling.
I'm your 100 th fan. 😊
I love the raw, unpainted wood on the Albatros aircraft. It truly shows what the engineers had to work with and how they made the most out of it.
Some of the German camouflage schemes are beautiful, though.
There’s a reason why old pilots referred to their planes as ‘kites’. They were only a generation or two away from actual kites, and made from similar materials.
I'm with you. That wood finish is beautiful. I recall the wood received several layers of clear varnish.
Greg, you touched on the advantages of tactics of German fliers in WWI, but I believe this deserves greater emphasis. Oswald Bohlke developed a systematic training program based on principles that are still used today, and this gave German pilots a huge training advantage over their Allied counterparts. As I'm sure you know, Bohlke noted that most of the pilots who were shot down were rookies. If a pilot could survive 3 aerial combats, his chances of surviving many, many more combat encounters (which necessitated shooting down his opponents, of course) was much, much higher than the newbies. Bohlke developed the first school of mock combat to give his trainees that experience in "winning" mock dogfights and thereby enhancing their chances in real combat. Air forces around the world still use those principles today in fighter pilot training.
Trading up to the 2nd wwwas preety poor all round. Which is why the Germans and Japanese who had a lot of battle experienced and who did not have any stupid rule about talking shop in the mess did much better early on in the war.
Boelcke
Same idea behind the US Navy's Top Gun school: get your first batch of "combat" missions in school, survive the real thing. Amazing how lessons have to keep getting relearned.
I always thought it was a shame that the rest of the Albatross didn't live up to its fuselage. IMHO, it was the prettiest fuselage of the day. I love your early statement about how the engine ruined some engineers day. Good stuff Greg!
The Albatros D III is the best looking plane of all time in my opinion.
Have felt the same about the fuselage since I was about seven! Glad it isn't/wasn't just me.
@@jfu5222
I think the Pfalz DIII could give it a run for its money in the looks department.
@@paladin56 I wouldn't argue against that!
As a youngster, I obsessed over WW I Aircraft. I built the models & read the boxes. I even checked out library books on the subject. Finally, in my 70's, you put out these wonderful videos!
me too!
I read somewhere that the aviator’s scarf also prevented the laceration of the neck from the leather coat. They had no rear-view mirror, so they had their heads on pivot constantly
I seem to remember from somewhere, that protecting neck skin from irritation was the main reason for pilot scarfs and that was the reason why those white scarfs had to be a very high quality silk, as a result extremely valuable and sooth after piece, since it was much smaller than pilots leather jacket and easier to conceal, those scarfs were primary target for liberation by people.
After this video I can see how the scarf was used for cleaning. When the flight starts, one end is just long enough to get the windscreen and as the flight went on, they would adjust the scarf so a clean section was ready, the dirty part trailing in the airstream. Otherwise, why so long?
Robert S. Johnson, a P-47 ace in WWII, wrote about wearing pilots wearing silk scarves to prevent their necks from being rubbed raw by the wool collars on the jackets. Keeping one's head on the swivel was a constant.
@@mbryson2899If I recall correctly Johnson was writing from the perspective of hard experience after he forgot his scarf and learned the hard way.
Alot of pilots in WW2 talk about wearing silk scarfs to protect their neck from chafing.
Although those are normally small demure affairs that barely stick out of their collar.
I'm sure chafing was also a factor in WW1, but the large, long scarfs they wore surely had a reason to be so - and wiping oil away would be a perfect explanation.
The Albatross variants that were built under license by the Austrians were pretty first-rate machines when compared to their German stablemates. The Austrians cured the design flaw of the Albatross’ lower wing by moving its wing spar forward, which cured the flutter problem that beset the D III and D V models. This redesign enabled the Austrian Albatross to dive faster than the German models. They also equipped it with a more powerful engine in a more streamlined arrangement, which cut the aircraft’s drag. In general, the Austrian machines were stronger faster and more reliable than their German counterparts. During Poland’s war with Communist Russia, which was fought in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, the Austrian variant of the Albatross was very popular among the Polish aviators who flew them in action, where they were considered tough and dependable.
@nigellawson8610
Oeffag produced, I believe. They also, at least some of them, had their twin machine guns 'buried' in the fuselage and they redesigned the radiator, both of which improved drag performance. Rather frustratingly, I've been unable to find performance figures specific to the Austrian Albatros models.
@@paladin56 The two main sources (Karl Meindl and Petr Aharon Tesař) state a max speed of 170km/h for the Albatros D.II series 53, 174km/h for the D.III series 53.2 with the same 185hp Austro-Daimler engine, 188km/h for the series 153.01-153.111 with a new 200hp engine, 191km/h for the planes on the 153.112-153.281 series implementing the new rounded nose cowling and finally the 253 series with the 225hp engine capable of reaching a speed of 202+ km/h
@@AS-cz1mv
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.
It is not only about parameters, also user interface, ergonomy, view from plane, reliability, ease of maintenance... Many guys just look at speed or armament, but there are so many things that influence combat effectivity :)
And proficient advance Training is the key above all added to Logistical supplies
Like Operational Doctrine.
F6F is another example, often criticized for being relatively slow for a late war fighter but it's success was due to its other qualities than raw "video game stats"
Much like the German Panzer III tanks having a 6:1 kill ratio against T-34 in the first year of the Russo-German despite vastly superior Armour and guns on the T-34. The German Tanks had vastly superior ergonomics, a superior 3 man turrets versus 2 man with an excellent drill, much better wide view optics for the commander, a viewing cupola for the commander, good radios. The Germans usually got first shot first kill, found T-34 situational awareness was so bad they could shoot without being seen by the Russian tank. They even joined within Russian formations and fired from behind.
Greg is (as usual) spot on Hot Rod. Comparing the engine in a race car to the science of aircraft engines is like comparing anvils to watermelons. What you know to be true about an engine that is required to operate at a single altitude for about 20 minutes tops just doesn't translate to one that has to fly to the target, engage the enemy at high output, and then cruise back home several hours at a range of altitudes from sea level to 25,000 feet.
The reason you run only water on a drag strip is so if something happens and it boilover or spills on the track its not a slippery chemical spill its just water
The really fast cars dont run long enough to need cooling and just use bigger oil pans, heavier blocks and sheer mass of metal to run for the 30-60 seconds at a time its required.
A decade ago I had to have a surgery that required a lengthy recovery, 14 weeks, so I went looking for projects to fill my time. I somehow landed at Harbor Freight of all places who had this “Legends of the Air” series of small wooden aircraft models. Best part is they were like $1.99 each, 6 different types, this was one of them. I picked up 5 of each of each of them, given how cheap they were, and built myself one hell of an Air Force over the months that followed. HF doesn’t seem to sell them anymore, but they’re on eBay, pick some up, they’re a blast.
Re the US Air Corps switch to ethylene glycol cooling: this was based on tests conducted at Wright Field in 1931 by English engineer and designer for Curtiss Sam D. Heron. He was looking down the road to 1,000 hp for 350 mph fighters and was convinced that for a compact liquid cooled engine to achieve this it would come with high operating temps. As a result Curtiss stopped the development of their Conqueror engine, since it developed coolant leaks when switched from water to ethylene glycol@ 300 degrees.
To amplify this comment “The Horsepower Race” Calum E. Douglas has a lot of information about the development of high temperature high pressure cooling systems, which are A Big Deal in Gregspeak.
When the coolant temp exceeds desirable oil temp you only end up with a big oil cooler and an oil/liquid cooled engine. 220 degrees is about the limitv after which you are trading a smaller radiator for a bigger area of oil cooler
@@Dr_Reason You mean 220 degrees Fahrenheit?
Nicely argued. Oswald Boelke was generally regarded as the father of fighter tactics, and he taught all those fighter leaders (like the Baron) you mention.
As an aside (being as it is not a DIII) concerning the lower wing flutter problem, the DVA has a little strut between the bottom of the front interplane strut and the wing leading edge and that mod, introduced for the purpose, did a lot to reduce the flutter.
Thank you for the explanation of glycol, I too have heard all the nay sayers but had not yet discovered the advantage.
I read a pilot’s report of the DVa, he said that there was a significant amount of structural movement in the elegant fuselage, which made it somewhat disconcerting to fly.
He also said that flying the SE5a was akin to flying a much more modern design.
Another great video, Greg, I learned things I never knew, and that’s after forty years of reading and studying all aspects of aviation history.
I’m always quick on the play trigger when I see you’ve uploaded a new video. Thank you and keep up the great work!
So the Fokker D.VII* was not in his report?
*kinda' have a SE5a-look ;-P
The SE5a's designer went on to design the jet-powered Hawker Siddeley Folland Gnat.
From biplanes to jet power in one lifetime.
What I like about this channel is that, over the years, you've created a robust set of tools which allow for detailed - and often surprising - analytical results about the performance of all kinds of aircraft. As somebody who began building model airplanes at age 8, I really appreciate all that you do. Keep up the good work.
Enjoying these WWI videos, was a weak spot in my warplane knowledge. Also, got to laugh at those arrogant 'know-it-alls', when they just can't help themselves to tell you, "You're wrong", lol! I knew the specific heat capacity of pure H2O was greater than any antifreeze formulations but as an engineer, I immediately told myself, "I must be missing something because there "Always" is some other extenuating factor, he he!" Thanks for explaining the difference in detail, I forgot about the operating temp differences combined with the different boiling points.
And freezing points. And rust/corrosion inhibition. All thanks to ethylene glycol.
Excellent video! You hit it spot on…the success of this aircraft was most certainly due to the superior tactics and training of the German pilots during that period of the war. Boelcke wrote the book on air combat and the German Air Force embraced his “dictates”. You can have the best fighter going, but if you don’t know how to engage you are not going to be successful.
Keep up the good work Greg.The debate on the p forty seven was outstanding. You make aviation history exciting as well as accurate.And that's more important than people realize.Thank you
It was either DIII or DV that the Red Baron racked up the majority of his kills in. But most people only know of him and his red triplane.
Great video, Greg, as always! And as an enthusiastic giant scale RC modeler (for both WWI and WWII Big Iron which is my favorite era...) I'm always torn between the Nieuport 28 and the Albatross DVa as the most elegant, beautiful WWI birds out there to model. Since my daughter is going into the AF, I think the next project will be a 1/3 scale Nieuport 28. So many wonderful airplanes, so little time...
Can you imagine being sent aloft as a low-time pilot in a 1912 BE2 against the hungry wolves flying the Albatross? Bad enough having to fly airplanes that could barely hold together with only 20-30 hours of flight time under your belt, in an open-air cockpit in the cold skies of Europe. It was practically a suicide mission. Perhaps a better tactic would have been to send them up as bait with a fighter squadron escort flying high cover and waiting for the vultures to circle then pouncing. Given the relative importance of pilot training, combat experience, as well as aircraft performance, I'd love to have to also do some videos on the evolution of fighter tactics in each of the eras. Another great topic for your insightful, well-researched treatment.
Timing-wise (fact check required!) I also imagine the introduction of the Fokker DVII might also have left the Albatross pilots feeling even more disappointed given the performance that plane brought to the German squadrons. So many interesting aviation stories from this early era of rapid progress. Thanks for all your efforts from your many devoted fans!
The Albatros with its pointy nose/prop spinner just looked miles ahead of all the other WW1-era bipes. Such an elegant design. Good stuff, Greg 👌
"Listen, hot-rod." Brilliant, I'll now live for the day I can use this myself.
Outstanding as usual! Another reason for the silk scarf was that many of the pilots were issued wool uniform jackets, thus keeping their head on the swivel tended to rub the neck a bit raw. Silk or I expect even quality cotton would solve this.
If you can find a copy, read the novel "Goshawk Squadron". It's protagonist in one memorable scene explains to a staff officer exactly why his pilots need silk scarves.
@@FelixstoweFoamForge- Excellent book ! I 'borrowed' it 40 years ago and still read it every year or so . I love the way Woolley describes the S.E.5a's stability !
@@korolev-musictodriveby6583 Me too. He's brilliantly drawn character.
@@FelixstoweFoamForge He is that !
One other comment about drag racing, straight water does not contaminate the track.
Continue the excellent info, Greg.
Pretty sure the nitro classes run solid blocks with no coolant passages. Minor point. Great presentation!
Do they really run straight water, or do they add something like water wetter. When I did motorcycle road course track days I always ran water + water wetter. Had to, as straight water would boil. Water wetter was useless as an antifreeze, but it raised the boiling temp, and evaporated with the water if you spilled it, not leaving a slick mess on the tarmac the way ethylene glycol does.
Normally a story that starts going down rabbit holes of long and pointless explanations are simply transparent attempts to extend the video length. But your background on radiators, ethylene glycol, and such were applicable, interesting, and addressed questions I've had bouncing around in my head ever since I was a kid building models of planes and wondering why they designed them the way they did. I built my first model of an Albatros in 1963 and this has completed that little journey, if you know what I mean. The chart at 20:14 is very interesting. Thanks much.
It's great to have a well reasoned analysis, including areas of uncertainty, based on primary sources. You give us information and insights just not available anywhere else. Thank you so much!
Manfred von Richthofen most notable victory was shooting down the British ace Lanoe Hawker in late November 1916. Richtofen was flying an Albatross DII while Hawker was flying an Airco DH2 pusher. Richtofen and Hawker became engaged in a lengthy turning fight while the prevailing west wind pushed them deeper into German territory. Eventually Hawker had to break off and make a run for it, at which point Richtofen's albatross had no problem running him down. The DH2 had been an effective response to the Fokker Eindecker, but by late 1916 it was sadly lacking when confronting the albatross.
Agreed. Every aircraft in WW1 was obsolete within a few months.
Around 7:00 minutes in you mention solving flutter with strengthening, I suspect that was a slip of the tongue and you meant to say “stiffening”. Excellent video as always!!
I enjoyed this video very much. Your enthusiasm and passion for history and especially aviation history clearly shines through these videos. Knowledge instructs, and passion ingrains; you, good sir, show a wonderful balance of both.
Total personal view but the Albatros series is one of, if not, the most gorgeous aircraft of the time.
I was surprised to hear the beautiful streamlined fuselage didn't result in a faster speed but thanks for pointing out why that isn't the case.
Having a less streamlined fuselage wouldn't have helped the other issues, to be fair
What an excellent video! Thanks very much.
I have read many WWI pilots memoirs, and histories of the era - but you provide something new and different - and which makes a lot of sense.
Please keep these WWI videos coming...
One other point on cooling - the liquid cooled engines of WW2 used the radiator installation to generate a low-pressure jet which provided some extra thrust. This was known as the Meredith effect after the engineer who thought of it.
Meredith showed that even putting heat into a streamlined wing would increase its drag, while a radiator enclosed in a suitable duct could generate modest thrust, effectively a subsonic ram jet.
21:13 I am pleased to hear a Spad video may still be on the books. Tremendous video, as ever. This period of weird, semi-unscientific fighter design is fascinating.
Once again another great video, lots of detail well explained. As usual I learned a lot. I've never really understood why the Albatros was so successful just comparing performance numbers with those of its principal Allied rivals. Thanks again Greg!
That was completely fascinating and beautifully put together. Thanks so much!
Very interesting. I build the Airfix model of the Albatros when I was a kid.
RAF never learnt the lesson of WW1 & kept sending up Blenheim's to be shot down in WW2 they knew they were obsolete but the production line keep going rather than shut it down to produce newer aircraft.
That's a bit of an over-simplification, in my humble opinion.
@@paladin56 Agreed, but they were indeed rubbish.
Not much else available in 1939 - 1941.
@FredScuttle456
True, but the OP seems to suggest that waving a magic wand would have produced instant squadrons of Mosquitos. Also, the RAF was not alone in having to send vulnerable bombers into enemy airspace, only to suffer heavy losses. Every major combatant indulged in this.
@@paladin56 All of us are smart, with the benefit of hindsight.
"Listen Hotrod" this phrase cracked me up! Thanks!!
Absolutely love your WW1 series! Please keep up the great work!
Thanks Greg, the Albatros D.III has long been my favorite airplane. Although I have read about it over the years, I learned alot from this video!
This was a neat coincidence considering I've just been watching some WW1 fighter sim footage lately. And just yesterday read stuff on the Albatrosses.
I've always liked the looks of this plane, even if it might not have been the best plane ever.
Bravo on an excellent video. As you mentioned earlier in the vid, the dual machine guns were likely another reason for high kills. When jumped, the first few seconds of firing could be critical, not to mention delivering more rounds per second during a dog fight.
I was wondering about the guns, too. In the old Avalon Hill game “Richtofen’s War,” that’s what I remember most, the mismatch between twin Spandaus and a single Vickers.
I just wish to say "thank you" for all that excellent material, no doubdtedly a result of meticulous research & deep knowledge of the matter!
Thank you very much, Greg!
Nice work on the 351C engine block pic. I rebuilt my high school 351C and gained much experience and fun.
The art work is stunning!
Love the WW1 aircraft.....all of them.
😎👍Very cool and very nicely greatly wonderfully well informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and format provided on the "Albatross D.3-DVa", A job very nicely fabulously well done indeed Sir!👌.
Greg, another great video. Thanks for sharing! As you point out… it’s not only having the best equipment…. It is also about what you can bring to the fight. Sometimes having good enough in sufficient quantity wins the day. Thanks again… chuck
Yes, the Spad VII would be fun to compare. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada
For the modelers out there. There is a nice video of the building of a Albatros DVa on UA-cam by Luis P. Igualada in stop motion to waltz music. Straus l think.
And go see one fly at Rhinebeck!! The DVa being a personal favorite of mine... and if you can make it up there on Jamboree Day, all the better!
Great video and detailed description of the engine. Would be great to hear about the starter system the Germans used on their inline engine planes. As far as I understand, they didn't pulled the prop with hot mags to start but instead had this "Anlassmagnet" in the cockpit.
Always great content, I like the water versus anti-freeze rebuke 👍
These first world war AC vids are great Greg. Love the detail and comparisons, make them very interesting and watchable.
Some rail use diesels still have the cylinders as their own thing. The blocks aren't even cast, but are instead weldments that old the cylinders or "power assemblies" that contain their own cooling jacket.
The Albatros is certainly one of the most beautiful planes of WWI. My favorite plane of the war is the Siemens-Schuckert D.III. Thanks for this interesting and informative video.
I just ran the whole p47 Playlist again last night and seem to learn something new every time.
I just added two videos to that playlist, they were the Pacific theater videos.
Greg, as the air pressure drops the boiling point will drop so to raise the boiling point up something has to be added to water, it's a well known phenomenon in chemistry. The same addition also lowers the freezing point.
Awesome video. This has always been one of my favorites, especially seeing, and even getting to do a tiny bit of work on one at Old Rheinbeck Aerodrome when I was a boy. Have you ever done a video on my other favorite, the Maachi M-5 seaplane fighter. To me it is perhaps even more beautiful. I can’t find much published about it. Although Italian, it was used by American forces in the Mediterranean and Adriatic theatres, and supposedly had performance equaling many land plane opponents. I think it would make a great video!
Absolutely outstanding presentation on an aircraft I've always been fond of and very informative about the whole biplane era . Thx. Keep up the good work 👍
Loving these WWI aircraft videos Greg, keep it up 👍What could possibly be next? Spad XIII? Nieuport, SE5, Gotha, Pfalz???? Saying that I do realize that sources and specific topics for these old aircraft must be tough to come by.
Great video. Despite not actually being more aerodynamic than it's contemporaries, the Albatross designs were certainly beautiful to behold and quite sleek in appearance. That doesn't make it a better fighter, but it certainly makes it a joy to see.
I like how you emphasize "nuance" when it comes to comparing aircraft performance. Us aviation enthusiasts can sometimes get too attached to the raw numbers. It's a shame that this aircraft is less well known in the general public. I'm thinking of that horrendous World War 1 fighter combat movie that was a CGI mess where every German fighter was depicted as a red Fokker Triplane from some years ago! World War I fighters were a fascinating and diverse group of aircraft, where designers were trying out just about every idea they could conceive of, in an attempt to create a successful design. You capture that fact very well in your videos. So nice to see WW1 fighters (and aircraft in general) getting some love!
I love your work, the way you go through this information is exactly how I like to look at our wonderful topic. 👌🏼
A video on the Halberstadt D.II would be intriguing, it is a lesser talked about german WWI era aircraft, which seemed to be one of the first aircraft used after the Fokker Scourge.
Seemed a big jump in maneuverability to the Eindekker, similar to the Albatross aircraft. But the Halberstadt D.II was underpowered in the engine, and only had one machine gun.
Sesquiplane: sesqui = one and one half wings. Very good video! I learned a lot!
Really well presented, Greg. Nice job 👍🏼
Thanks Greg for explaining why the sleek and "modern" looking Albatross was so slow. I read once that the plane had structural issues involving the tail falling off under high stress maneuvers. 10:55 of course is when the wife walks in. Thanks Greg!
Did she sit down and watch the rest of the video?
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles LOL, no, Just said "WWI airplanes, huh?" and left.
Good show Greg. I know more about the Albatros then I ever cared for. And that's a good thing! 🐿
Hi, Greg, I was going to comment on the Oeffag version of the D-III but if you've got a feature coming up about it I'll wait. I think your research will show that Austrian designers managed to turn it into a whole new airplane! As far as why wing failure didn't greatly affect the D-III but was very serious with the D-V( 23 pilots killed in the first three months of service), this is from Kookaburra Technical Pub.-"the up-rated power of the Mercedes combined with an increase in weight produced a performance that approached the critical limitations of the wing structure, with the result that maneuvers that were quite acceptable in the D-III became hazardous when attempted in the D-V."
You could probably look at the Oeffag version as being like the later marks of the Mustang or ME 109. It shares the name and general shape of the original but also kind of becomes its own airplane.
Great comment. Greg seems to get some great comments.
The cover photo at the start is not a German Albatros.
It’s hard to put into words the total chaos that was aircraft design in World War One. Well said, but you do an excellent job of sorting it out for us, Greg.
Here’s a question for you: Do you think in relative terms there was more progress/ advancement in aircraft design in 1914-1918 or 1939-1945?
If I discount the limited introduction of jet aircraft (in other words ignoring something that actually happened) I’d say it was the earlier period, but I’d love to hear your expert opinion. I appreciate all your videos but really love the ones focusing on pre-WWII planes. Cheers.
Nothing pushes technological advances like a world war does.
as you've got to the engine part i realized that i'd love to hear your analysis of the Hispano-Suiza HS-31 engine which was quite a revolutionary design at the time of it's intoduction.
Thanks for the video! I'm loving all this content on WWI aviation, it's such a fascinating era. And the planes are works of art.
The 100 hour vs. 20 hour TBO would have a dramatic effect on dispatch rates, too. If you can put more aircraft up , day after day, then you are going to have more opportunities for victories.
I might add --just for shucks -- that not only does running the engine at a higher temperature using ethylene glycol and higher pressures help drag -- you can also get more power out of the thing due to better overall thermal efficiency.
"... idea that planes should look like birds." FWIW that's a pic of the German Taube ("Dove") and despite the bird name, the wing shape was based on a type of flying seed rather than a bird's wing. Not necessarily the best plan to base your wing on a seed, but not entirely crazy since those seeds can at least glide pretty well.
We drive WWI era Model T's and actually water works better than water with anti-freeze in the original configuration. However many Model T's have non-factory accessory water pumps which allow for the water/antifreeze to properly circulate. The problem with the water pumps is that if they go bad, the circulation stops completely and you don't have a temp gauge to know it. An advantage of anti-freeze is that it reduces corrosion and is good for cold climates.
On the boiling point point, there is also the fact that higher coolant temps have a greater difference to the ambient temperature enabling greater transfer rate of the heat energy. Calum Douglas’ book The Secret Horsepower race goes into these issues in reasonable depth as the german aircraft designers felt that their aircraft were having too much excess drag by having larger radiators than the Allies. They did not run their engines at higher coolant pressures as the cooling systems leaked.
I believe he is right about that, but I have never seen a source showing the actual pressures they were running.
page 336, English engines, presumably Merlins, running 140 degrees C at 6 atmospheres(!) German engines quoted at 115 degreesC and struggling to run 4 atmospheres. Given that the source is a record of acrimonious meetings, there may not be much accuracy in the numbers , but the differences between the two approaches is clear.
And without pressurisation the cooling water will boil off at much lower temperature the higher the aircraft flies.
Another great comment that adds to the value of this video. Just purchased The Secret Horsepower Race.
Good video. Most of what I've read suggests that the Albatross came out after the Allies were winning back the skies, and that the Albatross D.III had the climb advantage e.g. 16500 ft in 20-24 minutes depending on engine version 10000ft in 9-11 minutes, speeds from 109 up to 125.5mph (serial #253, also best in climb, serial #153 being in the middle ranges), and the initial dive advantage, but that the advantages faded when newer Allied planes began showing up in numbers. It simply took a while for the Spad and Camel to be put against the Albatross in significant numbers.
Because it looks beautiful, simple as.
Thanks Greg Great Info and My Compliments to The Artist He Does Amazing Work 😀❤️😇
10/10 for looks though. An all-timer with the p-51d and f-105. The crazy colour schemes made them even better
F105 is awesome. An underappreciated plane in my opinion
Is the Saturday cartoon animation styling refer to Johnny Quest? That was the first thing that came into my mind especially with the "Shadow of the Condor" Episode where Race Bannon and the "Baron" had a dog fight using WWI aircraft.
Sure, Johnny Quest, Tom Slick, George of the Jungle, School House Rock, Bullwinkle, and so on.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles OK, just from memory... Tom Slick Tom Slick.. In the Thunderbolt grease slapper he is on you tail.....I know the rest by heart. Question, I am the CEO of a museum that I think you would be interested in visiting. What is the best way for me to contact you and maintain your privacy? I can give you the museums web site if you wish, but I am sensitive to any concerns you may have with that COA.
Absolutely right. Especially when you've given the sources & reasoning for your information, those who disagree should play by the same rules and give their sources/reasoning. Not just the standard 'no you're wrong' & run away.
Thank you for giving us the hows & whys Greg, information we can use to make up our own minds. Not just some random facts thrown together.
Greg I am sure someone has already posted this but here goes. Most sanctioning bodies restrict or forbid the use of coolant other than water as they are very slippery and do not evaporate quickly if at all. I know I know oil can be cooled but we haven't found a replacement for that yet. Thanks for the videos always learning something new.
Jim, people keep telling me that, but have you been to a test and tune? I have many times, there is no rule forbidding coolant on the track. Now maybe at some NHRA even with really high powered stuff they may have such a rule, but not for the typical weekend type events I go to coolant is the norm.
I think the big problem with the sesquiplane was, indeed, the torsional stiffness of the narrow lower wing.
You make a good point there. Many aircraft have crashed as a result of aerodynamic flutter. Purely because it can becomeso violent that it tears pieces off the aircraft.
A good picture that it is not the hardware that wins but experience and tactics. High mechanical availability is also important. Should be interesting to carry out the number of missions and flight time between the aircraft.
Considering that the first successful powered flight was in 1903, the leaps in engineering is pretty impressive. They could have had a better thicker airfoil and stronger wings, etc, etc, but airplane evolution was still really fast.
great in depth info; very interesting the 180 hp engine longevity compared to other engines/types. Yes the albatross success was shooting down BE 2 and FE2, no question. Hawker went down in his FE2 to an albatross Baron. However the albatross was one of the heaviest airplane of the war (1550 lbs) had the inferior seisquiplane set up and the large empennage no one ever seems to talk about. The Baron did not like the DVa, so he flew the problematic DR1.
Thanks for that nice shot of the Black Maria!
Thanks!
Wow, thank you very much. That really makes it easy to explain to my wife why I'm doing this.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles would love to know your thoughts on fokker d8
At 4:40 you see an Albatros in Polish Markings of the Kościuszko squadron. Several were captured when Poland captured the Airfield in Poznań after the uprising, similar aquisitions happened in Autria-Hungary controlled Kraków in the south of Poland.
G'day Greg,
Great stuff...!
Keep on keepin' on.
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Thanks this takes me back to my teens!❤❤❤😊
I was going to comment, but Greg beat me to it. Cooling is also a function of Temperature differential.
Great stuff! I had never really thought about ethylene glycol and how it could allow for smaller radiators. The greater the temperature delta between the fluid and the outside air, the more effective the cooling of the fluid.
6:55 Can't say I have ever heard of the Falls(z?) manufacturer!😮
Greg please do a video on the history of how NACA came about, about NACA itself, and how it evolved into NASA. That would be a big BIG _dirty_ stick to whip the keyboard commandos with.😊👍🏻
Plus that organization absolutely deserves a well researched and well presented history and I can't think of _anyone_ who could do a better job of documenting that part of aeronautical engineering history.🙏😇
If you are looking up Falls you will have a hard time. It is spelled Pfalz. The Pfalz DIII/DIIIa is kind of like the Hurricane if the Albatros was the Spitfire of the day. The DIIIa was past it's prime by the end of the war but I still don't think it gets the love it deserves.
@Mgnostic THAT would be why I couldn't find anything.😂 Thanks.
Now that I see the name I have seen just a little about them but it would probably all fit on a postcard.
Hey Hot Rod, another great video!
The bi-plane layout big top wing, small bottom wing was to keep the two wings as a structural truss but reduce the interference drag of the lower wings low pressure gradient overlapping the upper wings high pressure gradient. Since the low pressure gradients lean forward over the wing a stagger wing does this better but has pilot vision problems such as with the De Havilland scout D5 or the Sopwith Dolphin.
Radiators and oil coolers are counterintuitive regarding drag. For WW2 engines, one would think that opening them up, allowing more flow, would reduce drag. In reality, the outlet flaps that typically control the flow seem to induce more drag than one would expect as they open.
Might be a pic for a video, also might be a bit too exotic.