Albatros C.X

The Albatros C.X was a German two‑seat reconnaissance and light bomber aircraft built by Albatros Flugzeugwerke during the later stages of World War I. First flown in early 1918, the C.X was developed from the earlier C.VII, incorporating a more powerful 260 hp Mercedes D.IVa inline engine and a revised, aerodynamically cleaner fuselage. The aircraft featured a staggered two‑bay biplane wing arrangement, a spacious cockpit for pilot and observer, and a modest forward‑firing 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 machine gun together with a flexible rear gun for defensive coverage. Its payload capacity allowed it to carry up to 120 kg of bombs, making it useful for tactical ground‑attack missions as well as photographic reconnaissance. Although only a few hundred were produced before the Armistice, the C.X demonstrated the effectiveness of combining speed, altitude performance, and versatility in a single platform. Post‑war, the type influenced interwar German aircraft design, providing experience that fed into the later C.III and C.VI models and informing the development of the successful civilian and military biplanes of the 1920s. Its legacy lies in bridging the gap between early wartime scouts and the more sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft that followed.