Pfalz D.VI

The Pfalz D.VI was a German biplane fighter aircraft from World War I. It was not put into production.

Design and development
The D.VI was a single bay biplane with parallel chord wings which had angled tips The lower planes were slightly smaller in span and chord than the upper ones but there was no stagger. The interplane struts were similar to those of the D.III, almost V-form but with a squared-off vertex and placed near the lower leading edge. The fuselage and wing centre section were joined by a pair of outward leaning cabane struts on each side. As on the D.III, the lower wing roots were carefully faired into the fuselage. There were ailerons only on the upper wings.

The Pfalz was fitted with a nine-cylinder 110 hp Oberursel U.II rotary engine, driving a two blade propeller with a large spinner. The fuselage was nearly circular in cross section; smoothly covered with plywood, it tapered towards the tail. The straight edged tailplane was mounted at mid fuselage and carried horn balanced elevators with angled tips. A nearly triangular, flat topped fin carried a D-shaped rudder, hinged at the elevator trailing edge. A single seat, open cockpit placed the pilot under the upper trailing edge, which had a shallow but broad cut-out to enhance his view. The D.VI had a simple fixed conventional undercarriage, with mainwheels on a single axle supported at each end by a slender V-form pair of struts. There was a small tailskid. It was armed with a pair of fixed LMG 08/15 7.9 mm calibre machine guns, the standard German single seat fighter equipment of the time.

The D.VI was one of three Pfalz aircraft which competed at the first D-Type contest held at Adlershof in January and February 1918, the others being the D.VII and the D.VIII. It gained its Type Certificate in September 1918 but failed to win a production order.