Albatros J.I

The Albatros J.I was an armored ground attack airplane designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Albatros Flugzeugwerke. It saw active combat during the final months of the First World War. The J.I was a "J-class" derivative of the Albatros C.XII reconnaissance aircraft; it shared both the wings and tail of the C.XII while adopting a new semi-armoured fuselage to protect its occupants from the anticipated ground fire from conducting low-altitude attack and reconnaissance missions over the battlefield. It was armed with three 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine guns, two of which were fixed in a downwards position for strafing ground targets. The heavy armouring around the crew compartment negatively impacted its performance capabilities. During April 1918, units of the Luftstreitkräfte began receiving the J.I; it was commonly well-received by its crews due to its protection and good visibility. While the newer Albatros J.II began to replace it in frontline use only months later, the aircraft continued to be operated through to the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended the conflict. In addition to Germany, the J.I also was operated by Austria-Hungary, Poland, Norway, and Ukraine. Poland, which had captured ten aircraft during the Greater Poland Uprising, deployed them into combat during the Polish–Soviet War; the Ukrainian People's Army also used J.Is against the Soviet Union.

Summary from Wikipedia, photo via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA.