The C.II used the wings and landing gear of the earlier C.I but was fitted with a short nacelle rather than a conventional fuselage. The nacelle housed a 1500NaN0 Benz Bz.III engine in a pusher configuration with a two-bladed propeller. The nacelle had an open cockpit for the observer/gunner at the front and the pilot behind. The tail structure used an open frame with a conventional fin and rudder and garnered the nickname Gitterschwanz (en: lattice tail).[1]
This aircraft should not be confused with the OAW C.II which was an unrelated aircraft produced in 1916 by Albatros’s subsidiary, German: Ostdeutsche Albatroswerke, at their factory in Schneidemühl. The two aircraft can be easily distinguished as the company's main factory at Johannisthal's design used a pusher configuration while the Schneidmühl one used a tractor configuration.[2]