Siemens-Schuckert D.I

The Siemens-Schuckert D.I was developed from captured examples of French Nieuport 11 fighters.

Siemens-Schuckert D.I aircraft were in fact reverse-engineered copies of the French-made Nieuport 11. So desperate was Germany at finding a contender for the Nieuport 11 that it resorted to capturing Nieuport 11's and learning the machine first-hand, then reproducing a German-based copy of the aircraft for actual use in combat (a testament to the French design itself!).

The D.I maintained much of the exterior look of the Nieuport 11 with some minor exceptions including some subtle changes in profile. Armament was a single LMG 08/15 series machine gun synchronized to fire through the propeller. Production was handled by the Siemens-Schuckert Werke firm of Germany. Despite its roots in the successful French design, the D.I was already outclassed by both German and Allied aircraft designs by the time it arrived on the Front and relegated as a trainer.
Several D.II developments stemmed from the D.I and produced the improved D.III and fine D.IV variants.