While output of the successful Albatros D III was operating at peak production levels, design engineers started work on developing a successor model. Work on the aircraft designated the D V probably started at the beginning of 1917. The prototype is likely to have been ready in February or March of the same year and the first 200 airframes were already commissioned in April.
Essentially, the Albatros D V was no more than a D III with an elliptical fuselage. This had been developed previously but apparently only been adopted in one Albatros D IV aircraft. Slight modifications were made to the tail wheel and rudder. The shape of the lower wing where it joined the fuselage was also redesigned. The upper wing was repositioned 10 cm lower to provide the pilot with improved vision. Overall, the aircraft was heavier than its predecessor. Compared with the D III it therefore offered no significant advantages, apart from an additional 5 km/h maximum speed. The D III had continual problems with wing failure due to wing flutter in steep dives and structural failure continued to plague the wings of the D V. An additional brace was attached to the ends of the wings of numerous aircraft in the field as a makeshift attempt to reduce wing failure.
Despite these problems, the Albatros plant in Berlin-Johannisthal quickly switched production to manufacture the D V after a further 400 aircraft were ordered in May 1917 and an additional 300 aircraft in July. During the summer of 1917, increasing numbers of the aircraft saw service with units on the Western Front and they quickly started to replace the D III, initially only with the most successful units. However, the pilots were disappointed by the new aircraft because they had hoped for a tangible increase in power. It is safe to assume that a total of some 900 aircraft of this type were manufactured, although production in the meantime was switched in favour of the proven D III!
From November 1917, the main plant in Johannisthal commenced mass production of the improved Albatros D Va. The main difference was a partially strengthened fuselage some 40 kg heavier than its predecessor. The aircraft built subsequently at the Albatros plant in eastern Germany were even heavier. Successful development and mass production of the high-compression Daimler IIIa engine avoided a deterioration in flight performance (due to weight) compared with the D V particularly at higher altitudes.
At the end of April 1918, almost 50 percent of the German fighter aircraft deployed at the front were the Albatros D Va. Around 1600 aircraft in this version are estimated to have been produced at the manufacturing facilities. This was mainly due to the entry of the USA into the war, leading to a massive increase in German aerial forces. However, from mid-1918, the Albatros D Va was quickly replaced in front-line units by the significantly better Fokker D VII, although the Albatros D Va was still in service with many units at the end of the war.
