New Pfalz Book

[Craig]

Yesterday I received a copy of the new FMP “Pfalz Aircraft of World War One”. This is a wonderful anthology of these elegant, but ultimately second-rate machines.
It’s rather sad - they were always a step behind: their E-types were inferior to the Fokker E-types, and arrived later. So, too, the D.III - stout, reliable, and in my opinion, the best-looking crate of the war. But it offered no improvement over the Albatros D.III and D.V series, and once again arrived months later than their competitor. This pattern continued with their triplanes, arriving later and proving less maneuverable than the Fokker, and their D.VIII was also less so than the SSW D.III/IV, with which the Pfalz shared an engine. The D.XII followed the Fokker D.VII into service, and was not as maneuverable, either.
Finally, the Pfalz D.XV was considered “the equal of the Fokker”, but no better. And the war ended before it could be used.
Some interesting bits are in this book, such as Jasta 64’s problems with the Mercedes engines of their Pfalz D.IIIa machines. They couldn’t even be run at full-throttle! And it made me wonder: did Mercedes send their best product to Albatros and Fokker? The Mercedes D.III engine was supposedly the model of rugged reliability.
Anyway, this is a great addition to the library of anyone who visits this site. Many new photos, at least that I’ve never seen, nice color profiles, etc. My only disappointment was that there was nothing new on the Pfalz parasol fighter which participated at the Second Fighter Competition in 1918.

[Richard_Schrader]

Craig;
Thanks so much for the info. I think the Pfalz D-3 was a fine looking plane also. I've yet to read of a German pilot who like it.
Richard

[Ron_F]

Craig, where did u get the book from?

Ron

[Craig]

Ron:

http://www.paladin-press.com/

Richard:
There isn't much good about it in this book, either. Karl Degelow preferred it to the Albatros because he didn't trust the Albatros to stay in one piece, but that's about all there is in the Pfalz's favor. There are no quotes from Jasta 10 pilots, though, and they used it quite successfully from August 1917 to May 1918.
I'd like to name Fritz Roth of Jasta 16b as another possible Pfalz ace. Although there is a well-known photo of him in front of an Albatros, his unit used the Pfalz heavily. He was also the #1 German balloon-buster (20 out of 28 victories) - a task for which the fast-diving and robust Pfalz fighters were ideally suited.

Craig,

Thanks for the book reccommendation. Good info on the Pfalz aircraft is hard to find. does the book any performance statistics/data?

By the way, the remark relevant to full throttle issues with the Mercedes engines might not actually have been be a problem. It is possible that the Mercedes engines were outfitted with high-altitude carburetion. If so, they would have been restricted from full throttle operation under 6,000 ft or so. This was the case with the famous "high-altitude" BMW D.III engine of the Fokker D.VIIF.


Byron

[Craig]

Byron:
Not much new on the stats. It does list the top speed as 180 kph, up from the oft-quoted 165 kph at 10,000 feet. Concerning the Mercedes problem, my understanding is that Mercedes was selling as many 160 HP motors as they could build. And being a good ol' conservative corporation, they got fat and lazy on the gummint teat, sat back and skimped on development. A more ambitious fellow on their team by the name of Daimler jumped ship and went to BMW, where his ideas were more readily accepted. The result was the famous 185 HP BMW. This got Mercedes' attention, and they applied the same "over-compression" principles to their motor, and thus was born the 200 HP Mercedes to which you refer. And it did share that trait with the BMW: you couldn't go full-throttle at low altitude without thrashing your motor.
So far as I have ever read, this engine was not used in the Pfalz D.IIIa. The Jasta 64w problems were with the same old Mercedes models that came out in 1916.

[Craig]

Richard:
It occurs to me that I haven't read much about the Albatros D.V that was positive from German pilots, either. MvR, in fact, ranted against them nicely. It was no improvement over the Albatros D.III, since it had the same gimpy wings. With the introduction of the Bristol F.2b, Sopwith Camel, SE5a, and Spad 13 in Spring and Summer 1917, the Albatros fighters were wholly outclassed. And so was the Pfalz D.III when it arrived in August of that same year.
How these pilots, in inferior machines and against superior numbers, managed to inflict more losses than they sustained is a testament to their skill and spirit. Oh, yeah - and the fact that they did have the tactical advantage of being on the defensive. And better trainung than their counterparts. But they were still amazing men.

[Richard_Schrader]

Craig;
I agree, the Albatros D-V was a dog. They would have done better to bring back the D-II with the 180hp engine.
Richard

[Craig]

Richard:
The D.II? Really? My understanding is that the D.III was an improvement in climb as well as maneuverability, if the same in speed. But it had Gimpy Wing Syndrome (GWS), as is well known.
As the D.V was using the same wings as the D.III, they should've just stayed with the D.III until new wings could be worked out. But they weren't so good at wing design, as even the later Albatros D.XII experimental had weak wings, so they were better off contract-building the Fokker D.VII. Interestingly, the Austrian-built Albatros D.III (Oeffag) reportedly didn't have GWS. Why the parent company couldn't remedy the problem is beyond me.

[Richard_Schrader]

Criag;
The way I figured it was that the D-II could dive onto it's prey, and escape the same way. This was how the Flying Tigers defeated the tighter turning Jap fighters in WW-2.
The D-II & D-IV were no faster then the D-II, but the wings kept falling off!
Richard