Hi All,
Having succumbed to the gentle persuasion of Lone Modeller here is my first almost complete scratch build. I've scratched wings, even a fuselage once, but never both together. While I will never reach the standards of many on this forum I'm quite happy with the result.
Build thread is here.
http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=49276The Aviatik C1 was one of the first the C type recce aircraft introduced in 1915 by the Imperial German AF. Three types were initially ordered from Aviatik, Albatros and LVG with others following. All appear to be upgrades of these companies earlier B types which had at first been unarmed. Improved 160hp Mercedes and 150hp Benz engines were becoming available and offered improved performance and it was now obvious that machine gun armament was a necessity in order to resist mg armed Allied aircraft. However, the debate as to which cockpit the gunner should occupy remained unresolved so Idflieg, the German Air Ministry, ordered rear gun mounted aircraft from Albatros and LVG while the Aviatik order specified a front seat gunner. Geyer machine gun rails, previously installed on some B types, were fitted and the field of fire was improved by relocating some of the wing bracing wires from the upper wing centre section to the upper longeron of the fuselage sides. This was a considerable improvement over the B types. One report quoted in WSDF 63 said that the field of fire from the front cockpit was “ medium good “ and that successful attack or defence was largely dependent on pilot skill in combat manoeuvres.
Orders were placed in spring ’15 and continued until April ’16. Hannover licence built the type from Sept 15 to Sept 16 and in total 402 were built by Aviatik and 146 by Hannover. The C1 served on the Western Front well into 1916 and on the Eastern Front until spring 1917. Many were used as trainers and at the beginning of 1918 around 200 remained in service in this capacity.
While the British BE2 series has been condemned for poor defensive qualities the Aviatik appears to have managed better. As it was purposely designed to have a front gunner considerable thought seems to have gone into improving the fields of fire combined with the installation of a much improved engine which gave better performance. Although the concept of the rear cockpit armed reconnaissance aircraft proved to be the better solution the Aviatik C1 was regarded, to quote PM Grosz in WSDF 63, “ as a dependable workhorse performing artillery spotting, bombing and general photo-reconnaissance assignments from mid 1915 through early 1917.”
The kit was scratch built using the WSDF plans. It represents a generic aircraft operating from late 1915 to 1917. There are errors aplenty but I’m quite happy with it. Being a basic slab sided design makes it an ideal candidate to cut one’s scratch building teeth on. There are also several options available. Early aircraft sported side radiators and above engine water tanks and at least two different water pipe installations for the strut mounted versions. Most Aviatik aircraft were very light grey with grey fuselage upper surfaces although some appear to have a darker grey colour overall. Hannover aircraft were light grey or later aircraft were camouflaged green and brown. So there we have it. One of Germany’s lesser known types that was around a lot longer than I would have guessed.
Regards, Steve
