DH2 vs Albatros DI/DII

The ungainly yet nimble DH2 helped the Allies attain air superiority over the Somme in early 1916 and hold it through that summer.

With its rotary engine “pusher” configuration affording excellent visibility and eliminating the need for a synchronized machine gun, the DH2 was more than a match for anything the Germans could put in the air until the arrivel of the Albatros DI and DII, sleek inline-engined machines built for speed and twin-gun firepower.

Thus, the later part of 1916 saw an epic struggle in the skies above the Somme pitting the manoeuvrable yet under-gunned DH2 against the less agile yet better armed and faster Albatros DIs and DIIs.

This book tells the story of that confrontation and casts new light on the clash between the first British ace, Major Lanoe Hawker, and Manfred von Richthofen in one of World War One’s greatest dogfights.

After a short introduction and a chronology of the principal events from 1914 to 1916, the book gives, for each aircraft, a long and interesting description of their design and development, and some informations about their respective conceptors. Next chapter gives the technical specifications of each aircraft, as well as their colours and markings.

Then we go to the strategic situation in 1916, followed by the combatants and naturally the combats. Statistic and analysis are also given, and the book ends with the “aftermath” for those aircrafts…

As always with Osprey, the book is richly illustrated with lot of photos of excellent quality, from the aircrafts and the pilots. There are also lot of splendid drawings.

This is a very interesting book about the mid-WWI, giving lot of informations about some of the aircrafts that marked a big evolution in combat warfare. I recommend it warmly! Direct order here!

Daniel Clamot

Sample publication provided by Osprey