, March–April 1918. Ukrainian People's Republic Air Fleet. Anatra started by producing foreign designs under license including the
Farman III,
Nieuport IV,
Morane-Saulnier L, and
Voisin V. The latter became the most significant of these, forming the basis for the
Anatra V.I. (short for Voisin-Ivanovich) which flew in April 1916. By then, their head designer, Frenchman
Alfred Descamps, and who had previously worked for
Aviatik before the outbreak of World War One, had completed development of the
D Anade (D for Descamos, and Anade being short for Anatra-Descamps), commonly called the
Dekan, following the Russian pronunciation of his surname, which would be the most numerous aircraft produced by Anatra. After an extended development period in which the crew had to be moved forward, and the wing moved aft and given substantial sweepback to correct balance problems, it saw service as a
reconnaissance aircraft with the
Imperial Russian Air Force (IRAS) and would be further developed. Due to shortages of good quality lumber, the factory scarfed shorter pieces together poorly, compromising its structural integrity, and giving Anatra a poor reputation with the IRAS. Variants included the
Anakle (short for Anade-Clerget), which was basically the same but powered by a
Clerget 9Z rotary engine installed under a horseshow cowling, which resulted in a modest performance improvement, The
DSS or
Anasal SS followed and was similar to the DS, but with a slightly more powerful Salmson radial, but few were built. All of these were reconnaissance aircraft. Anatra also developed two
fighters. The first was the
DM or
Anamon single-seat monoplane with a wooden
monocoque fuselage (that might have inspired its name) that resembled the pre-war
Deperdussin TT. The single example was completed as a two-seater and it first flew on 23 October 1916, and on a later flight to Western Europe it was lost in a forced landing in
Romania. ==References==