Manufacturer's Plate for Albatros (OAW) built Fokker D.VII

Accession Number REL/13797
Collection type Technology
Object type Aircraft component
Maker Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH
Place made Germany
Date made c1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Broken data plate from an Albatros built Fokker D.VII. 85 x 26 mm in size.

Damaged on one end where pulled off airframe. Two holes added presumably to display the plate.

Text reads:
Albatros GESSELLSCHAFT FÜR FLUGZEUGUNTERNEHMUNGEN.m.b.H
BERLIN-JOHANNISTHAL
Type D VII Fok Alb No.5956

The letters are stamped so that they are raised on the front of the plate. Black surround. Type and No. are stamped into the raised base.
The Johannisthal Albatros factory produced a batch of Fokker D VII fighters with serial numbers from D.5190 to 5389/18. From known lists of those fighters, the Johannisthal works number 5956 on this data plate corresponds to Military serial number D.5357/18.


See RELAWM112498.005 for a Johannisthal data plate & RELAWM112498.006 for an OAW data plate.

History / Summary

Data plates such as this were fixed to the fuselage of newly manufactured aircraft. They identify the type of aircraft, manufacturer and the military serial number. The Fokker D.VII was one of Germany's most capable fighters, produced from August 1917 to the end of the war. This particular aircraft was built by the Albatros firm, which had itself produced a stable of capable fighters that ended with their type D.Va, the most original example of which is on display in the AWM. As the later Albatros fighters did not meet the demands of the air war in 1918, Albatros was compelled to build the Fokker D.VII instead.