Albatros D.Va scout aircraft

The Memorial’s German Albatros D.Va scout aircraft, captured by Australian troops during an air engagement of the First World War, is one of only two of its kind in the world today.

On 17 December 1917 Lieutenant James Sandy and Sergeant Henry Hughes, of No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, were directing artillery fire from an RE8 aircraft when they were attacked by a group of six German Albatros scouts. Despite being outnumbered, Sandy and Hughes managed to defend themselves and forced one of the scouts, piloted by Leutnant Rudolf Clauss, to crash land behind Australian lines. Clauss was taken prisoner and, as more RE8s arrived to assist, the remaining Germans broke contact with the Australians. The crashed Albatros was claimed by the AIF as a war trophy, and put on display in Australia House, London, before being shipped to Australia. Both Sandy and Hughes were recommended for awards, but their aircraft never returned to its airfield. Their RE8 was found the next day, 80 kilometres away, with Sandy and Hughes each killed by a single bullet.

From 1941 the Albatros was displayed in the Memorial’s Aircraft Hall, where it remained until the early 1960s when it was removed and stored at Duntroon. In the mid-1960s substantial reconstruction of this aircraft was undertaken by the Australian Society of World War One Aviation Historians, and this was completed by personnel from the Camden Museum of Aviation under the direction of Mr Harold Thomas. Large sections of the fabric have survived, and were used to guide the finish applied to the aircraft. The Albatros has subsequently been used a reference for modellers and replica makers, as well as by other museums.