Description
The Albatros D.III (Oeffag) series 253 was the last modification of the famous WWI Austro-Hungarian fighter. Because construction was unchanged apart from the engine installation, new fighters were delivered to the combat units Flik 61 and Flik 63 in the same month. Up to October 1918, the Oeffag factory manufactured 201 fighters. Many pilots, who had flown other new aircraft, regarded the Oeffag series 253 as the best and finest fighter of all. Poland purchased 38 Oeffag series 253s; these fighters served in the Polish Air Force until the mid-1920s. The Oeffag factory was closed soon after the war, but in the late 1930s, when Austria had been occupied by Germany, Wiener-Neustadter Flugzeugfabrik again started to produce aircraft, now Messerschmitt fighters. In 1944-45 all Oeffag plants were totally destroyed by Allied bombers.