Otto C.I
German two-seated biplane
The Otto C.I, also known as the Otto KD.15, was a German two-seat biplane reconnaissance and bomber aircraft of the First World War designed and produced by Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik. The C.I was a rare example of an aircraft flown by the Central Powers which had a pusher configuration.
Design and development
The German aeronautical engineer Gustav Otto designed the C.I as a reconnaissance aircraft for use by the Imperial German Flying Corps. It was an all wooden, fabric covered twin boom design with box-shaped booms. Forward was a large fuselage gondola with two seats, the observer sitting at the fore and the pilot to the rear. Behind the pilot was a six-cylinder engine driving a pusher propeller.
The unarmed prototype first flew in May or June 1915, named KD.15 and powered by a 150 kW (200 hp) Rapp engine. Production examples were given the official designation C.I and the observer was provided with a single machine gun for defence. The Rapp engine proved unreliable so production aircraft were also equipped with the lower-powered 120 kW (160 hp) Mercedes D.III or 112 kW (150 hp) Benz Bz.III.
The aircraft was produced in small numbers and proved to be the last made by the company. It is unrelated to the C.II made under license for LVG by Otto.
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