Austro-Hungarian Air Power

rjk (rjk@law295d.attmail.com)
Fri, 10 Mar 1995 14:43:44 -0500

Folks:

As a new member of the group I'm fascinated with all of your comments and
queries. Briefly my interests are in flying scale aircraft, mainly rubber
powered, gas and electric as well as Aviation History particularly the WWI era
and Military & Civil aircraft of the 20's & 30's. I have built plastic models
extensively in 1/48 & 1/32 scale too. I wanted to bring to the groups'
attention two marvelous books I've recently obtained: Austro-Hungarian Army
Aircraft of World War One by Peter Grosz, George Haddow and Peter Schiener and
Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1914-1918 by Dr. Martin O'Connor.
These are 2 huge TOMES which I believe touch on a little known theater of the
"Great War". Both have extensive 3-View drawings and color drawings which
illustrate the evolution of camoflage and markings of the Austro-Hungarian air
arm. Things we modellers are always looking for. Also of interest in the
O'Connor book is a fairly comprehensive appendix with the aces' victory lists.
The Grosz book, no pun intended, must weigh over 5 lb. alone. The authors
list all of the Aircraft Companies and their products. Of particular interest
is the chapters on Phonix Flugzeugwerke A.G. and Oesterreichische
Flugzeugfabrik A.G. or Oeffag who produced Albatros D-2, D-3 under license.
The Phonix D-1,D-2 and D-3 are described in detail too. For you gents seeking
info on the Fokker D-6 their is mention of a Hungarian company, MAG, which was
licensed to build the Dr-l, D-6 and D-7 as well as earlier Fokker aircraft. I
should point out some interesting photo's of the MAG D-7 in postwar Hungarian
Red Airborne Corps. camo as well as a side view color drawing, something new
for an innovative modeller. I'm partial to the Phonix D-1, D-ll, and D-lla as
well as the Oeffag Albatros D-3. These planes have been on my wish list to
build for a long time. Well I guess I've been wordy enough, if anyone has any
Q/A's on either of these books please ask. There's no denying there both
pricey but I feel worth it.

Bob K.

rkalinak@attmail.com

PS: Jess if your still looking for info on the Sopwith Swallow you may want
to consult "British Fighter Aircraft since 1912" by Francis K. Mason available
from the Naval Institute Press in Annapolis, MD, I think there is a little
3-View GA drawing. Putnam also published a book on Sopwith however I can't
recall the author.. Spater..