The Fokker ''Eindecker'' fighters were a series of German
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
single-seat
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
designed by
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
engineer
Anthony Fokker
Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker (6 April 1890 – 23 December 1939) was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such ...
.
[Boyne 1988] Developed in April 1915, the first ''Eindecker'' ("Monoplane") was the first purpose-built German fighter aircraft and the first aircraft to be fitted with a
synchronization gear
A synchronization gear (also known as a gun synchronizer or interrupter gear) was a device enabling a single-engine tractor configuration aircraft to fire its forward-firing armament through the arc of its spinning propeller without bullets strik ...
, enabling the pilot to fire a
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
through the arc of the
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
without striking the blades.
The ''Eindecker'' gave the German Army's Air Service
(then the ''Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches'') a degree of air superiority from July 1915 until early 1916. This period, during which Allied aviators regarded their poorly armed aircraft as "Fokker Fodder", became known as the "
Fokker Scourge".
Design and development
![MS H LeB 09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/MS_H_LeB_09.05.07R.jpg)
The ''Eindecker'' was based on Fokker's unarmed
Fokker M.5K
The Fokker M.5 was an unarmed single-seat monoplane aircraft designed and built by Anthony Fokker in 1913. It served as a light reconnaissance aircraft with the German army at the outbreak of World War I and was the basis for the first successfu ...
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
(military designation
Fokker A.III
The Fokker M.5 was an unarmed single-seat monoplane aircraft designed and built by Anthony Fokker in 1913. It served as a light reconnaissance aircraft with the German army at the outbreak of World War I and was the basis for the first successfu ...
) which in turn was based on the design of the French
Morane-Saulnier H
The Morane-Saulnier H was an early aircraft first flown in France in the months immediately preceding the First World War; it was a single-seat derivative of the successful Morane-Saulnier G with a slightly reduced wingspanTaylor 1989, p.648"The ...
shoulder-wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
monoplane, although it differed in using
chrome-molybdenum steel
41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common va ...
tubing for the fuselage structure instead of wood. It was fitted with an early version of the
Fokker gun synchronizer which controlled a single
Parabellum MG 14
The Parabellum MG 14 was a 7.92 mm caliber World War I machine gun built by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. It was a redesign of the Maschinengewehr 08 machine gun (itself an adaptation of the Maxim gun) system intended for use on aircr ...
machine gun. Anthony Fokker personally demonstrated the system on 23 May 1915, having towed the prototype aircraft behind his touring car to a military airfield near Berlin.
[Dierikx 1997, p. 31.]
''Leutnant'' Parschau and the ''Green Machine'' (A.16/15)
The history of the "prototype" Eindecker aircraft (Fokker factory number 216) which was used for Fokker's initial synchronizer trials is closely associated with Leutnant
Otto Parschau
''Leutnant'' Otto Parschau (11 November 1890 – 21 July 1916) was a German World War I flying ace and recipient of the Pour le Mérite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, and Iron Cross, First Class. He was noted as one of the pre-eminent ace ...
, who was allotted this aircraft, then a Fokker
A-series unarmed
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
with the serial number A.16/15, at the beginning of World War I. This aircraft had been privately purchased in 1913 by ''
Oberleutnant
() is the highest lieutenant officer rank in the German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces.
Austria
Germany
In the German Army, it dates from the early 19th century. Trans ...
'' Waldemar von Buttlar, and requisitioned by the
''Fliegertruppe'' along with his commissioning as an officer in the
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.
The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
at the outbreak of hostilities, and had been painted a shade of green, the color of von Buttlar's previous
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...
-based Jäger regiment.
[vanWyngarden 2006, p. 9.] Parschau had served with the same surreptitiously named
''Brieftauben-Abteilung Ostende'' (BAO), in Belgium as ''Oberleutnant'' von Buttlar did in November 1914, where the two German officers could have first made contact. Parschau eventually spent most of the first year of the war with this aircraft, flying it on both the
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
and
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
fronts. At some stage he had the words "Lt. Parschau" painted on the right upper side (and possibly both sides) of the fuselage behind the cockpit. This aircraft had its main fuel tank located behind the cockpit.
![Parschau's E1-15](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Parschau%27s_E1-15.jpg)
Near the end of May 1915, while it was based at
Douai
Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...
with
Feldflieger Abteilung Feldflieger Abteilung (''FFA'', Field Flying Company) was the title of the pioneering field aviation units of what became the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German air service) by October 1916, during World War I.
Composition
The use of aircraft as a tact ...
62, the Fokker factory outfitted Parschau's aircraft with the first trial version of the Fokker ''Stangensteuerung'' synchronizer and a
Parabellum MG14
The Parabellum MG 14 was a 7.92 mm caliber World War I machine gun built by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. It was a redesign of the Maschinengewehr 08 machine gun (itself an adaptation of the Maxim gun) system intended for use on airc ...
light machine gun, leaving the wing panels in the stock A.III airframe's "shoulder-winged" location while armed and in Parschau's use in May and June 1915. Parschau made several attempts at aerial combat during June 1915, but at this stage the gear proved very unreliable, the Parabellum gun repeatedly jamming in action. As no photos exist verifying any change in wing-panel anchorage location for Parschau's A.16/15 aircraft before its return to the Fokker factory a second time to serve as the "prototype" Eindecker airframe, the belief that it had been modified to have the standard mid-fuselage location used on the later production E.I airframes before its second return to the Fokker factory has not yet been proven, as it was lowered some time after the Fokker factory had received it back to be retained there, following Parschau's final use of it. The mid-fuselage wing mount modification was not fitted to the initial batch of five M.5K/MG production prototypes as originally built,
[Grosz 2002, pp. 6–8.] with Otto Parschau's second Eindecker, the first M.5K/MG built bearing ''IdFlieg'' serial E.1/15 (bearing Fokker factory airframe number 191, accepted by ''IdFlieg'' on 26 May 1915 with shipping date of 15 June 1915)
[Grosz 2002, p.9] uniquely getting it sometime later, while in service. Production
E.Is, and all further Fokker Eindeckers, were also fitted with the definitive version of the ''Stangensteuerung'' gear, with a large cam wheel replacing the early drive taken from the oil pump drive shaft.
Sheet metal parts finish on the Eindeckers
![Fokker EII WNr 257](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Fokker_EII_WNr_257.jpg)
One distinctive feature of the appearance of all the sheet metal panelling on the Eindeckers was a special form of "dragged"
engine turning
Engine turning, also known as jewelling, is a fine geometric pattern turned onto metal as a finish. Aluminium is often the metal chosen to inscribe, but any appropriate surface can be finely machined to produce intricate repetitive patterns ...
performed on all their surfaces, both exposed and internal parts. This distinctive appearance on the sheet metal components of the Eindecker fuselage was also used on the earliest Fokker biplane fighters, like the
Fokker D.I but had ceased to be used by the Fokker factory on its designs by the end of 1916.
Fuel system details and flight characteristics
All the E.I to E.IV ''Eindeckers'' used a
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
fuel tank which had to be constantly filled by hand-pumping from the main fuel tank, which starting with the
Fokker E.II
The Fokker E.II was the second variant of the German Fokker Eindecker single-seat monoplane fighter aircraft of World War I. The E.II was essentially a Fokker E.I with the 75 kW (100 hp) Oberursel U.I 9-cylinder rotary engine, a close ...
was mounted behind the pilot; this task had to be performed up to eight times an hour. Both the
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...
and
elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
were aerodynamically balanced, and the type had no fixed tail surfaces. This combination rendered the ''Eindecker'' very responsive to
pitch and
yaw. For an inexperienced pilot, the extreme sensitivity of the elevators made level flight difficult; German
ace
An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...
''
Leutnant
() is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland.
History
The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...
''
Kurt Wintgens
''Leutnant'' Kurt Wintgens (1 August 1894 – 25 September 1916) was a German World War I fighter ace. He was the first military fighter pilot to score a victory over an opposing aircraft, while piloting an aircraft armed with a synchronized mac ...
, who along with ''Leutnant'' Parschau was the primary
''Fliegertruppe'' pilot responsible for bringing the first armed Fokker monoplanes into active service during the spring and summer of 1915, once stated "lightning is a straight line compared with the barogram of the first solo". The roll response of the Eindecker, on the other hand, was poor. This is often blamed on the use of
wing-warping
Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...
rather than
aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...
s - although the monoplanes of the time, even when fitted with ailerons, often had unpredictable or unresponsive roll control due to the flexibility of their externally braced wings.
Engine installations and associated changes
The main difference between the E.I and
E.II was the engine - the former having the seven-cylinder 60 kW (80 hp)
Oberursel U.0
Oberursel (Taunus) () is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th l ...
rotary engine
The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...
which was essentially a direct copy of the French-made 60 kW (80 hp)
Gnome Lambda
The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several World War I-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its capacity of al ...
seven-cylinder rotary engine, while the latter had the nine-cylinder 75 kW (100 hp) Oberursel U I, a direct copy of the 75 kW (100 hp)
Gnome Monosoupape
The ''Monosoupape'' ( French for single-valve), was a rotary engine design first introduced in 1913 by Gnome Engine Company (renamed Gnome et Rhône in 1915). It used a clever arrangement of internal transfer ports and a single pushrod-operated ...
Type 9-B2 rotary. The larger diameter of the E.II's nine-cylinder rotary mandated raising the upper nose paneling to match the larger-diameter cowl the U.I required — this also caused the outer edges of the upper nose paneling to overhang the fuselage's upper longerons, making it necessary to add "
soffit
A soffit is an exterior or interior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of any construction element. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of beams, is the underside of eaves (to ...
"-like surfaces, projecting outwards and upwards from the upper longerons' forwardmost length behind the cowl to fully enclose the nose once more on all E.II and E.III aircraft. The "soffit"-like surfaces were eventually created from upward extensions of the sheetmetal panels on the sides of the forward fuselage, by the time the E.III was in full production. Production of the types, built in parallel, depended on engine availability. Many E.IIs were either completed as E.IIIs or upgraded to E.III standard when returned for repair.
The definitive version of the ''Eindecker'' was the
Fokker E.III
The Fokker E.III was the main variant of the ''Eindecker'' (literally meaning "one deck") fighter aircraft of World War I. It entered service on the Western Front in December 1915 and was also supplied to Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
Design and ...
, which used a slightly narrower-chord (1.80 meter, or 71 inch) wing than earlier versions. Boelcke's ''
Feldflieger Abteilung Feldflieger Abteilung (''FFA'', Field Flying Company) was the title of the pioneering field aviation units of what became the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German air service) by October 1916, during World War I.
Composition
The use of aircraft as a tact ...
'' 62 began operating the E.III towards the end of 1915. A few E.IIIs were experimentally armed with two 7.92 mm (.312 in) calibre
lMG 08 "Spandau" machine guns, while most E.IIIs and the production E.I through E.III Eindecker models used only one of the same model. The final variant was the
Fokker E.IV
The Fokker E.IV was the final variant of the Fokker Eindecker, ''Eindecker'' fighter aircraft that was operated by Germany during World War I.
Design and development
Given the Fokker designation of M.15, the E.IV was essentially a lengthened F ...
which received a 119 kW (160 hp) Oberursel U.III, 14 cylinder twin-row rotary engine (a copy of the Gnome Double Lambda rotary) and was fitted with twin machine guns as standard, after repeated failure of an experimental triple-gun installation, which was initially intended be standard for the E.IV.
Total production for the entire Fokker E.I through E.IV series was 416 aircraft (the exact breakdown by type is not clear, although the E.III was the most important model).
Operational history
![Fok E I's U-0 & Stangensteuerung](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Fok_E_I%27s_U-0_%26_Stangensteuerung.jpg)
The first ''Eindecker'' victory, though unconfirmed, was achieved by ''Leutnant'' Wintgens in the late afternoon of 1 July 1915
[ Sands, Jeffrey, "The Forgotten Ace, Ltn. Kurt Wintgens and his War Letters", Cross & Cockade USA, Summer 1985.] when, while flying one of the five M.5K/MG production prototype/"service test" aircraft, numbered 'E.5/15' near
Lunéville
Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle.
It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze.
History
Lun ...
, he forced down a French
Morane-Saulnier L
The Morane-Saulnier L, or Morane-Saulnier Type L, or officially MoS-3, was a French parasol wing one or two-seat scout aeroplane of the First World War. The Type L became one of the first successful fighter aircraft when it was fitted with a si ...
two seat "parasol" monoplane. By this time the first E.Is were arriving as supplementary equipment, one per unit as "attached" aircraft, for the ordinary
Feldflieger Abteilung Feldflieger Abteilung (''FFA'', Field Flying Company) was the title of the pioneering field aviation units of what became the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German air service) by October 1916, during World War I.
Composition
The use of aircraft as a tact ...
- initially to provide escort protection for their usual quantity of six two-seat reconnaissance biplanes per unit.
Three days after his "unconfirmed" victory, Wintgens downed another "Morane Parasol" with the same E.5/15 aircraft, and a full fortnight after his initial engagement, on 15 July 1915, he became the first Eindecker pilot to be credited with such an official victory.
![Fokker synchdisc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Fokker_synchdisc.jpg)
The two most famous ''Eindecker'' pilots were
Oswald Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke PlM (; 19 May 1891 – 28 October 1916) was a World War I German professional soldier and pioneering flying ace credited with 40 aerial victories. Boelcke is honored as the father of the German fighter air force, and of air ...
(initially flying M.5K/MG service test aircraft ''E.3/15'') and
Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann (21 September 1890 – 18 June 1916) '' PLM'' was the first German World War I flying ace.Shores, 1983, p. 10. He was a pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchr ...
, both of ''Feldflieger Abteilung'' 62 - who
himself received his first production E.I Eindecker for his own use, bearing ''IdFlieg'' serial number ''E.13/15'' just before July 1915's end; and who each scored their first kills in E.Is in August 1915, just after Boelcke became the sole pilot flying the ''E.3/15'' service test aircraft. ''Leutnant''
Otto Parschau
''Leutnant'' Otto Parschau (11 November 1890 – 21 July 1916) was a German World War I flying ace and recipient of the Pour le Mérite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, and Iron Cross, First Class. He was noted as one of the pre-eminent ace ...
, who was instrumental in the introduction of the ''Eindecker'' from the very start, flew the M.5K/MG aircraft numbered ''E.1/15'', after the Fokker factory took back his now worn-out ''A.16/15'' aircraft a second time, this time to be retained by the Fokker factory for development purposes. Immelmann's initial ''E.13/15'' Eindecker survived past the end of the war.
Oswald Boelcke scored the most ''Eindecker'' victories - 19 out of his final tally of 40. His last victory in an Eindecker occurred on 27 June 1916. Max Immelmann had the second-highest ''Eindecker'' score. He achieved all of his 15 victories in the type before being killed when his E.III broke up in June 1916, possibly after the synchronisation mechanism failed during an attack on British
F.E.2bs, causing at least 7 bullets to shoot through one propeller blade, which subsequently broke off. This likely resulted in vibrations so severe that the loads exceeded the structural limits of the aircraft. (Allied accounts credit Corporal J. H. Waller, gunner/observer of a RFC F.E.2b piloted by 2nd Lt G. R. McCubbin, with firing the fatal shots at Immelmann during his attack on their aircraft and was credited by the British with shooting him down.) Eleven pilots scored five or more victories in the ''Eindecker''. Boelcke, Immelmann, Parschau,
Hans Berr
''Oberleutnant'' Hans Berr (20 May 1890–6 April 1917) was a German professional soldier and World War I flying ace. At the start of the First World War, he served in a scout regiment until severely wounded; he then transferred to aviation duty. ...
, and Wintgens all received Germany's highest military decoration, the ''
Pour le Mérite
The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...
'' or "Blue Max", while flying the Eindecker, after each pilot passed the then-required eight victory total for each aviator.
The arrival in early 1916 of the French
Nieuport 11
The Nieuport 11 (or Nieuport XI C.1 in contemporary sources), nicknamed the ''Bébé'', was a French World War I single seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft, designed by Gustave Delage. It was the primary aircraft that ended the Fokker Scourge in ...
and the British
Airco DH.2 pusher aircraft
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...
brought the dominance of the ''Eindecker'' to an end, and with it, the "Fokker Scourge". Wintgens flew the E.IV version of the ''Eindecker'' long enough to have been confronted by the much more advanced
SPAD S.VII
The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and rug ...
fighter of French flying ace
Alfred Heurteaux
Alfred Marie-Joseph Heurtaux (20 May 1893 – 30 December 1985) was a French World War I fighter ace credited with 21 victories. Later in his life, he joined the French Resistance during World War II, and survived imprisonment in Buchenwald death ...
on 25 September 1916, which resulted in Heurteaux fatally bringing down Wintgens, as Huerteaux's victory number eight.
Variants
;
Fokker M.5
The Fokker M.5 was an unarmed single-seat monoplane aircraft designed and built by Anthony Fokker in 1913. It served as a light reconnaissance aircraft with the German army at the outbreak of World War I and was the basis for the first successfu ...
:Fokker's first monoplane unarmed scout, in effect the "airframe prototype" of all the early Fokker Eindeckers.
;
Fokker M.5K
The Fokker M.5 was an unarmed single-seat monoplane aircraft designed and built by Anthony Fokker in 1913. It served as a light reconnaissance aircraft with the German army at the outbreak of World War I and was the basis for the first successfu ...
:K for ''Kurz'' - short span wings
;
Fokker M.5L
:L for ''Lange'' - long span wings
;
Fokker M.5K/MG
:Pre-production batch, with /MG suffix for ''maschinengewehr'' - machine gun, five built (see A.III above).
;
Fokker A.II
:Military designation for the M.5L unarmed scouting aircraft with three bracing cables per wing and powered by an 80hp
Oberursel U.0
Oberursel (Taunus) () is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th l ...
rotary engine; at least one was built.
;
Fokker A.III
The Fokker M.5 was an unarmed single-seat monoplane aircraft designed and built by Anthony Fokker in 1913. It served as a light reconnaissance aircraft with the German army at the outbreak of World War I and was the basis for the first successfu ...
:Military designation for the M.5K unarmed scouting aircraft powered by an 80hp
Oberursel U.0
Oberursel (Taunus) () is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th l ...
rotary engine; 5 built (see M.5K/MG).
;
Fokker E.I
The Fokker E.I was the first fighter aircraft to enter service with the Luftstreitkräfte, Fliegertruppe of the German Army (German Empire), Deutsches Heer in World War I. Its arrival at the front in mid-1915 marked the start of a period known as ...
:Production armed scout aircraft powered by an 80hp
Oberursel U.0
Oberursel (Taunus) () is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th l ...
rotary engine, 68 built
;
Fokker E.II
The Fokker E.II was the second variant of the German Fokker Eindecker single-seat monoplane fighter aircraft of World War I. The E.II was essentially a Fokker E.I with the 75 kW (100 hp) Oberursel U.I 9-cylinder rotary engine, a close ...
:Improved production armed scout aircraft powered by a 100hp
Oberursel U.I
__NOTOC__
The Oberursel U.I was an early German aircraft engine that powered many German fighter aircraft in the first part of World War I. It was a 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine, a licence-built copy of the Gnome DeltaKyrill von Gersdorff ...
rotary engine, 49 built
;
Fokker E.III
The Fokker E.III was the main variant of the ''Eindecker'' (literally meaning "one deck") fighter aircraft of World War I. It entered service on the Western Front in December 1915 and was also supplied to Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
Design and ...
:The major production variant also powered by a 100hp
Oberursel U.I
__NOTOC__
The Oberursel U.I was an early German aircraft engine that powered many German fighter aircraft in the first part of World War I. It was a 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine, a licence-built copy of the Gnome DeltaKyrill von Gersdorff ...
rotary engine with improved structure and equipment, 249 built
;
Fokker E.IV
The Fokker E.IV was the final variant of the Fokker Eindecker, ''Eindecker'' fighter aircraft that was operated by Germany during World War I.
Design and development
Given the Fokker designation of M.15, the E.IV was essentially a lengthened F ...
:The final version of the early Eindeckers the E.IV was slightly enlarged, fitted with a 14-cyl.
Oberursel U.III
The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several World War I-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its capacity of alt ...
engine and two machine guns above the forward fuselage, 49 built
''Note: The
Reinhold Platz
Reinhold Platz (16 January 1886 – 15 September 1966) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer in service of the Dutch company Fokker.
Platz was hired by Fokker in 1912 as a welder. His first hands-on projects were to weld the frame pa ...
-designed
Fokker E.V
The Fokker E.V was a German parasol-monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The E.V was the last Fokker design to become operational with the ''Luftstreitkräfte,'' entering service in the last m ...
bore no direct relation to the earlier Eindeckers (all designed by Martin Kreutzer), being a parasol aircraft, only built in small numbers before production switched to the improved
Fokker D.VIII
The Fokker E.V was a German parasol-monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The E.V was the last Fokker design to become operational with the ''Luftstreitkräfte,'' entering service in the last mon ...
.''
Survivors
![Max Immelmann Fokker EI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Max_Immelmann_Fokker_EI.jpg)
Only one original ''Eindecker'' remains. On 8 April 1916, a novice German pilot took off from
Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...
with a new E.III (
IdFlieg serial number 210/16) bound for
Wasquehal
Wasquehal (traditional pronunciation ; currently common pronunciation ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
The town originally had a Flemish name; it was written as ''Waskenhal'' in the 11th century.
Geography
Wasquehal ha ...
but became lost in haze and landed at a British aerodrome east of
St. Omer. He was forced to surrender before he realised his error and could destroy the aircraft. The E.III was test-flown against the
Morane-Saulnier N
The Morane-Saulnier N, also known as the Morane-Saulnier Type N, was a French monoplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. Designed and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier, the Type N entered service in April 1915 with the ''Aéronautique Mili ...
and other Allied types at St. Omer before going to
Upavon
Upavon is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. As its name suggests, it is on the upper portion of the River Avon which runs from north to south through the village. It is on the north edge of Salisbury Plain ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
for evaluation and finally going on museum display. It now resides at the
Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
in London. Immelmann's original E.I, with IdFlieg-issued serial ''E.13/15'', also survived the war and went on display in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, where it was destroyed by Allied bombing during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Specifications (E.III)
See also
*
Fokker Scourge
*
Morane-Saulnier N
The Morane-Saulnier N, also known as the Morane-Saulnier Type N, was a French monoplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. Designed and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier, the Type N entered service in April 1915 with the ''Aéronautique Mili ...
*
Synchronization gear
A synchronization gear (also known as a gun synchronizer or interrupter gear) was a device enabling a single-engine tractor configuration aircraft to fire its forward-firing armament through the arc of its spinning propeller without bullets strik ...
*
Oswald Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke PlM (; 19 May 1891 – 28 October 1916) was a World War I German professional soldier and pioneering flying ace credited with 40 aerial victories. Boelcke is honored as the father of the German fighter air force, and of air ...
*
Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann (21 September 1890 – 18 June 1916) '' PLM'' was the first German World War I flying ace.Shores, 1983, p. 10. He was a pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchr ...
*
Otto Parschau
''Leutnant'' Otto Parschau (11 November 1890 – 21 July 1916) was a German World War I flying ace and recipient of the Pour le Mérite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, and Iron Cross, First Class. He was noted as one of the pre-eminent ace ...
*
Kurt Wintgens
''Leutnant'' Kurt Wintgens (1 August 1894 – 25 September 1916) was a German World War I fighter ace. He was the first military fighter pilot to score a victory over an opposing aircraft, while piloting an aircraft armed with a synchronized mac ...
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
Boyne, Walter J. ''The Smithsonian Book of Flight for Young People''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1988. .
* Dierikx, Marc. ''Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. .
* Grosz, Peter M. ''Fokker E I/II'' (Windsock Datafile No. 91). Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 2002. .
* Grosz, Peter M. ''Fokker E III'' (Windsock Datafile No. 15). Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 1989. .
* Jarrett, Phillip. "Database: The Fokker Eindeckers". ''Aeroplane Monthly'', December 2004.
* vanWyngarden, Greg. ''Early German Aces of World War I'' (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 73), Botley, Oxfordshire, UK: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2006. .
External links
Model of Fokker Eindecker, c.1916NSW Migration Heritage Centre - Statement of Significance
Replica Fokker kits in 75% and 100% scale
{{Authority control
Eindecker
The Fokker ''Eindecker'' fighters were a series of German World War I monoplane single-seat fighter aircraft designed by Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker.Boyne 1988 Developed in April 1915, the first ''Eindecker'' ("Monoplane") was the first purpose- ...
Military aircraft of World War I
1910s German fighter aircraft
1910s Austro-Hungarian fighter aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1915
Rotary-engined aircraft