Brandenberg D I "Berg" Scout

Brandenberg D I Scout

The Brandenberg "Berg" scout was a single-seat fighter flown mostly by the Austro-Hungarians in Italy. Most of these were provided to the Austro-Hungarians by the Germans once they had the superior Albatros DIII on the Western Front in large numbers. A small number were also built in Austria by Phoenix. The D I was of mixed construction, and featured an unusual 'star' arrangment of the interplane struts. This arrangement was peculiar to Brandenberg designs and was likely much more difficult to build than either single or V-struts. The D I was difficult to fly. The DI first flew in 1916, but served much longer than it should have in Italy.

Technical Details
The Brandenburg D I was powered by a 160hp Mercedes D III in-line engine. It's maximum speed was 116 mph (187km/h). Ceiling and range data is not readily available. It was armed with a single 8 mm machine gun mounted over the top wing in a unusual canister designed to keep it dry. However, the canister was bulky, slowing the aircraft and making it impossible to reload the gun or to clear stoppages.

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Image From:
C. Campbell. Aces and Aircraft of World War I.