Kondor D 1
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| D 1 | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Fighter aircraft |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Kondor Flugzeugwerke, Essen |
| Designer | Walter Rethel and Paul Ehrhardt |
| Status | prototype only |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| First flight | Autumn 1917 |
| Variant | Kondor D 2 |
The Kondor D 1, given the unofficial name Kondorlaus, was a German single seat, biplane fighter aircraft designed and built close to the end of WWI.
The Kondor D 1 was an unequal span single-seat biplane of wooden construction, powered by a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine and armed with two 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 Spandau machine guns. The D 1 had a single spar lower wing with V interplane struts, similar to Nieuport 11 practice.
The first flight of the Kondor D 1 occurred in the autumn of 1917, but test flights showed it to be underpowered and Walter Rethel, with Paul Ehrhardt, developed an improved version of the design, the Kondor D 2, which Rethel completed after Ehrhardt retired due to ill health.
Confusion reigned after the second D-type competition at Aldershof because the Idflieg referred to the two Kondor D 2 prototypes as the D.I and D.II during the competition, which were actually fictitious designations.[1]