History
The Halberstadt D.II was designed in 1916 by the Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke company. It was the production model of the experimental D.I. The D.II included many upgrades of the D.I such as being fitted with a more powerful 120hp Mercedes D.II engine, wing mounted radiators and wooden braced wing trailing edges. Not only did Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke give the D.II far better performance to the D.I they also managed to make it considerably lighter.
The D.II first saw service at the start of 1916 where they were used by the reconnaissance branch of the German Air Service, the Feldflieger Abteilungen. However from February of the same year D.II’s started to be used in small specialised fighter units, the Kampfeinsitzer-Kommandos , the Single-seater Combat Commandos units, or just KEK units for short. This was the start of the first true fighter Jadgstaffeln or Jasta squadrons.
The D.II was flown by many different aces, most famously including Manfred von Richthofen and Oswald Boelcke. Richthofen would fly a D.II for serveral weeks in March 1917 after an issue with his Albatros D.III. He scored 8 victories in the D.II. Boelcke would fly the D.II as one of his aircrafts that he used to pioneer aerial combat, his Dicta Boelcke. Boelcke also painted his D.II in a distinctive bright blue colour which is one of the first documented instances of the flashy personal finishes that many German fighter pilots would apply to their aircraft.
The D.II’s would start to be retired in early-mid 1917 after the introduction of the Albatros series of fighters however some pilots retained their aircraft for some weeks after.
Specifications
Size
- Length: 7.3 m (23 ft 11 in)
- Wingspan: 8.8 m (28 ft 10 in)
- Height: 2.66 m (8 ft 9 in)
- Wing area: 23.6 m2 (254 sq ft)
Weight
- Empty weight: 519 kg (1,144 lb)
- Gross weight: 728.5 kg (1,606 lb)
Engine
** 1 × Mercedes D.II 6-cylinder water-cooled in-line piston engine, 90 kW (120 hp)
Performance
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Maximum speed: 150 km/h (93 mph, 81 kn)
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Range: 250 km (160 mi, 130 nmi)
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Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,000 ft) [8]
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Time to altitude:
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1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 3 minutes 30 seconds
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2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 8 minutes 30 seconds
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3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 14 minutes 30 seconds
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4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 22 minutes 30 seconds
Armament
- Guns: 1 × forward-firing 7.92 mm (.312 in) LMG 08 “Spandau” machine gun
- Yes
- No
- Standard TT (Lower than reserve tier, 0.0-0.7) Standard TT (Replacing current reserve tier, move everything else up 1 BR)
- Separate WW1 TT
- Event
- Premium
- I don’t want it
- 0.0
- 0.3
- 0.7
- New reserve tier (everything else would go up 1 BR)
- I don’t want it