Photo Albatros B.II (Mer)

[musec04]

Hello,


Currently on ebay is an interesting photo at:


https://www.ebay.de/itm/Raritat-Echt...AAAOSwG21eiNaf


It is, to my mind anyway, interesting because of the view of the 'mudgards' or are they steps? I've captioned this thread Albatros C.III, though I'm not totally sure the aircraft shown is a C.III. If anyone is convinced its something else I'm happy to agree upon receipt of compelling information and will change the thread title accordingly.


Edit


Since my initial post I've been checking images of Albatros aircraft in the hope of definitively identifying the machine. There is a photo of Albatros B.II (Mer) 457/16 of FEA 10 and an Aviatik of the same unit in Propellerblatt 28 P.77. Both machines have the 'steps' and I assume they are steps rather than mudguards over the wheels, so perhaps it was a unit modification, perhaps particular to FEA 10?


Also looking at the photo in the link above I notice that the aircraft shows the normal panel in front of the two louvres, but also a smaller panel first one, which doesn't seem present in other Albatros B.II photos. Is anyone aware of whether this was a feature of Albatros B.II (Mer) aircraft of the B.440/16 to B.539/16 batch or a part thereof?



Regards,


Clint