The Fokker M.5 was an unarmed single-seat

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 con ...

aircraft designed and built by Anthony Fokker in 1913. It served as a light

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

aircraft with the German army at the outbreak of

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 ...

and was the basis for the first successful fighter aircraft in German service, the Fokker E.I.

Design

Fokker's design for the M.5 was very closely based on that 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 monoplane although the fuselage had a

welded Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as braz ...

steel tube frame in place of the wooden structure of the Type H.van Wyngarden, G (2006). Early German Aces of World War I, Osprey Publishing Ltd. The power-plant was a Oberursel U.0 7-cylinder

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 its ...

(Gnome Lambda licence-built by

Motorenfabrik Oberursel Motorenfabrik Oberursel A.G. was a German manufacturer of automobile, locomotive and aircraft engines situated in Oberursel (Taunus), near Frankfurt (Main), Germany. During World War I it supplied a major 100 hp-class rotary engine that was u ...

). As in the Morane original, the

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammal ...

and

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

s were all-moving, having no fixed sections. There were two versions of the M.5: the long-span 'M.5L' and the short-span 'M.5K' ("K" for ''kurz'' meaning "short" in German). The M.5 was light, strong and manoeuvrable, capable of aerobatics (although, like all aircraft relying on the early style of Morane balanced

s, it had very sensitive pitch control). Fokker himself performed in the M.5 at Johannisthal in May and June 1914, winning a number of awards.

German army adoption

The German army adopted the militarised long-span M.5L, manufactured by Halberstadt, designated the 'A.II'. A two-seat version, known as the 'M.8' also entered service as the 'A.I' which was built by Fokker. These aircraft were used on the

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 ...

and Eastern Fronts in the early stages of the war. In early 1915, 10 M.5Ks were ordered, designated the 'A.III', but before delivery five were modified, being equipped with a single 7.92 mm (.312 in)

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 ...

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) ar ...

, becoming the five Fokker 'M.5K/MG' production prototypes of the Fokker E.I.

Variants

;M.5K: (K- Kurz – short) Short span version, retrospectively designated Fokker A.III after entering service with the Imperial German Army as scouting aircraft. ;M.5L: (L – Lange – long) Long span version, retrospectively designated Fokker A.I after entering service with the Imperial German Army as scouting aircraft. ;M.5K/MG: Five M.5K aircraft armed with a single

as the production prototypes of the Fokker E.I ;M.6: A tandem two-seat version of the M.5. The sole aircraft was destroyed during testing in a forced landing after pilot-induced engine failure. ; M.7:Based closely on the M.5, the M.7 had sesquiplane wings. Twenty M.7s were produced for the Imperial German Navy. ;M.8: Production side-by-side two-seater scout entering service as the Fokker A.II. ;Fokker A.I: Service designation of the M.5L ;Fokker A.II: Service designation of the M.8 ;Fokker A.III: Service designation of the M.5K ; Fokker E.I:The armed production aircraft in service with the Imperial German Army, popularly known as the ''Fokker Eindekker'', responsible for the '' Fokker Scourge''. ; W.3 / W.4: An M.7 fitted with floats.

Operators

; *

Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops The Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops or Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (german: Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or , hu, Császári és Királyi Légjárócsapatok) were the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the e ...

* Austro-Hungarian Navy ; * Luftstreitkrafte

Specifications (M.5K)

References