Aviatik B.I

The Aviatik B.I is a German two-seat reconnaissance biplane designed and built by the Automobil und Aviatik AG company, who until then had produced copies of French designs.

The B.I was developed from a 1913 design for a racing aircraft. The crew sat in open tandem cockpits with the observer in the front. It entered service in 1914.

It was followed by the B.II model, which had a more powerful Mercedes engine and was later armed with a single 7.7 mm machine gun.

The B.I was manufactured in large numbers in Italy under licence by Società Aeronautica Meccanica Lombardia (SAML), which built 410 examples according to Aviatik's design. The firm then put two modified versions of their own into production, as designed by Robert Wild. The first of these, the SAML S.1 was powered by a Fiat A.12 engine and was armed with a Revelli machine gun for the observer. The second version, the SAML S.2 was intended for the reconnaissance-bomber role and had a shorter wingspan, a fixed, forward-firing Revelli gun in addition to the one in the rear cockpit, and a bomb load of 40 kg (90 lb). The 16 Squadriglie da Recognizione operated 660 S-1s and S-2s from 1917 onwards in Italy, Albania, and Macedonia. Two SAML S.1 participated in the Revolution of 1922 in Paraguay in the government side. They survived the conflict and they were the first planes of the new Military Aviation School, along a single SVA-5, a SVA-10 and a SPAD S.20. One S.1 was destroyed in an accident in 1928 but the other survived as a trainer during the Chaco War.

Operators

 * Austria-Hungary
 * KuKLFT
 * 🇩🇪 Germany
 * Luftstreitkrafte
 * 🇮🇹 Italy
 * Turkish Air Force - Postwar, SAML Aviatik B.I.
 * Turkish Air Force - Postwar, SAML Aviatik B.I.