AGO C.III

The AGO C.III was a German two‑seat reconnaissance and artillery‑observation biplane built by AGO Flugzeugwerke during the late stages of World War I. First flown in early 1917, it entered limited service with the Luftstreitkräfte in 1918, where it replaced older C‑type aircraft on the Western Front and in the Balkans. The design retained the conventional biplane layout of its predecessors but introduced a more powerful 180 hp Argus As III inline engine, giving a top speed of about 170 km/h and a service ceiling near 5,000 m. Its wooden fuselage was covered with plywood, and the wings were of a mixed steel‑tube and wooden construction, providing a sturdy yet lightweight frame. The cockpit accommodated a pilot and an observer who operated a flexible 7.92 mm machine gun and could also direct artillery fire with a built‑in radio set, a relatively novel feature for the period. Although only a few dozen were produced before the armistice, the AGO C.III demonstrated the evolution toward faster, better‑armed reconnaissance machines and influenced post‑war German aircraft design, marking a transitional step between early war rudimentary scouts and the more advanced interwar reconnaissance types.