D 6

The Kondor D 6 was a single‑seat biplane fighter developed by the German firm Kondor Flugzeugwerke in the final months of World War I. Designed in early 1918 as a response to the Idflieg’s call for a higher‑performance interceptor, the D 6 first flew in April 1918 and entered limited service with the German Luftstreitkräfte in the autumn of that year. Its airframe combined a conventional wooden box‑girder fuselage with fabric‑covered wings of equal span, while a streamlined steel tube engine mount reduced drag. Powered initially by a 160 hp Mercedes D.IIIa inline engine, later prototypes received the more powerful 185 hp BMW IIIa, giving the aircraft a top speed of roughly 210 km/h and a climb to 3 000 m in under ten minutes. Armament consisted of two synchronized LMG 08/15 machine guns, the standard for German fighters. Although production was halted by the Armistice, the D 6 demonstrated advanced structural techniques and effective power‑to‑weight ratios that influenced post‑war aircraft such as the Fokker D.VIII. Its brief operational record exemplifies the rapid technological evolution of late‑war German aviation. Only a handful of prototypes survived the post‑war scrapping, and one restored fuselage is displayed today at the Deutsches Museum, where it serves as an example of aerodynamic experimentation.

Kondor Flugzeugwerke

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Design & Classification