Albatros W.4

The origins of the Albatros W.4 can be traced to the Imperial German Navy who, in 1916, sought a new single-seat floatplane with which to counter the growing use of both flying boats and floatplanes by the Allies powers, particularly Britain. Albatros developed the W.4 as a derivative from their existing land-based fighter aircraft, the Albatros D.I. Steel was used extensively in the structure of the tail unit, such as bracing struts and the framework of both the elevator and rudder. The wing structure was considerably different from that of the D.I, using elongated and strengthened centre-section steel struts to accommodate the greater span of the wing. Early aircraft were equipped with inversely tapered ailerons on the upper wings only, but this configuration gave the W.4 relatively slow lateral control, thus a revised arrangement using ailerons on all four wings, interlinked using a steel strut, was promptly implemented to improve this performance. ==Operational history==

During September 1916, the W.4 commenced combat operations. It was operated both in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea; it proved to be both relatively fast and agile for a floatplane. The W.4 typically had the upper hand over most enemy seaplanes encountered, particularly in terms of armament, unless the aircraft came up against the heavier flying boats operated by the Royal Navy. It was ultimately eclipsed by the arrival of faster twin-seat floatplanes produced by rival German aircraft manufacturer Hansa-Brandenburg. The final use of the W.4 was in the trainer role. ==Operators==

• • Luftstreitkräfte – 118 aircraft • • KuKLFT – 8 aircraft delivered in July 1918 ==Specifications (W.4)==