The Hansa-Brandenburg D.I, also known as the KD (Kampf Doppeldecker) was a German fighter aircraft of the First World War. Despite poor handling it was built for Austro-Hungary, some aircraft serving to the end of the war. Ernst Heinkel, chief designer of the Hansa und Brandenburgische Flugzeug-Werke, developed the KD in 1916 to meet the requirements of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force (Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen). It was a single seat, single engined biplane, of wooden construction, with plywood fuselage skinning and fabric wing skins. The wings featured an unusual "Star-Strutter" arrangement of interplane struts, where four Vee struts joined in the centre of the wing bay to result in a "star" arrangement. The interplane struts themselves were steel tubes. A total of 122 D.Is were built, with 50 built by Hansa-Brandenburg in Germany (powered by 150 hp (112 kW) Austro-Daimler engines, while a further 72 were built under license by Phönix in Vienna, powered by 185 hp (138 kW) Austro-Daimler engines. While it was intended that the D.I also be built by Ufag, none were delivered. The KD also formed the basis for the Hansa-Brandenburg KDW floatplane fighter. Detailed development and operational history, including every combat victory and loss and a capsule history of every D.I built; scale drawings to both 1/72 and 1/48 scales of both main production series. photos and illustrations
