Fokker Eindecker fighters

Fokker Eindecker III
Captured Fokker E.III 210/16 in flight at Upavon, Wiltshire in 1916.
General information
TypeFighter
ManufacturerFokker
Designer
Number built416
History
First flight23 May 1915 (modified M.5 A.16/15 serving as a E.I prototype, flown by Otto Parschau)[1]

The Fokker Eindecker fighters were a series of German World War I monoplane single-seat fighter aircraft designed by Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker.[2] 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, enabling the pilot to fire a machine gun through the arc of the propeller without striking the blades.[2] 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".

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dierikx p. 31 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Boyne 1988