The Albatros, with its torpedo shaped fuselage is one of the more iconic German aircraft of WWI. Not without its shortcomings, it never the less gave the German air superiority mid-war and remained a mainstay of the German and Austrian air forces to the war’s end. To meet the demand for aircraft, production of the D.III was seconded out to three other companies: Johannisthal, OAW and Oeffag. This outsourcing allowed Albatros to focus on D.V production much like what happened with Grumman Corp. in World War Two – where General Motors took over production and development of the F4F-4 (FM1) and Grumman pursued the F6F Hellcat. Like in the case of the Wildcat and General Motors, Johnannistal, OAW and Oeffag continued to build and refine the D.III and turn it into a more effective and reliable aircraft. As a result the Albatros D.III never faded away when the Fokker D.VII entered service and soldiered on past the war’s end. Ironically the Albatros D.III and the Fokker D.VII would be both stable mates and adversaries in the chaos which existed in the east after the rise of Soviet Russia and the collapse of the Austrian Hungarian Empire.

It is good to see Osprey release a monograph on the Albatros D.III built by the other companies, filling a niche of information about this important family of aircraft. The book is full 64 pages of their standard monograph size 8.5 mm x 25 mm with: 60 b&w photos and technical images, 3 pages of color profiles and 5 nice rendered color artwork including cutaways and aircraft in action – the inside back cover is the color cutaway in fold-out style. The book is organized as follows:

• Introduction – page 1
• Design and Development – page 6
• Technical Specifications – page 21
• Operational History – page 43
• Conclusion – page 61
• Bibliography – page 63
• Index – page 62

The book is a quick read and does a good job of balancing the topic. The reader gets enough of the design, the details, and the operational history to make it and enjoyable read for the armchair aviator and a useful reference for the modeler. This is the first book that I have seen which clearly illustrates the difference in the aircraft coming from the various factories. Osprey does this with period photos and illustrations which highlight the primary difference between them – the nose. None was a radical as the Oeffag 253. The 153 built by the Austrian Oeffag Corporation was a strengthened Albatros D.III. The 253 however, redesigned the nose eliminating the characteristic Albatros spinner while significantly increasing airspeed. The author contends that it gave the fuselage the look and improved performance of a modern submarine. It was a design that kept the Albatros competitive on the Eastern Front, but the change was not adopted by Albatros, Johannisthal or OAW. If there is one shortcoming, the book primarily focuses on operations by the German Air Force during the war. I would have like to have seen more coverage of the Eastern Front and the post-war era. In 64 pages it is hard to cover more ground.

Overall, this a good book that fills a niche in WWI aircraft on the eve of the 100^th anniversary of the Great War. Recommended.