Fokker Eindecker fighters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Eindecker_fighters

The Fokker Eindecker fighters were a series of German World War I monoplane
single-seat fighter aircraft designed by Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker.
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. The Eindecker gave the German Air
Service 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".

The Eindecker was based on Fokker's unarmed Fokker M.5K scout (military
designation Fokker A.III) which in turn was based on the design of the French
Morane-Saulnier H shoulder-wing monoplane, although it differed in using
chrome-molybdenum steel tubing for the fuselage structure instead of wood. It
was fitted with an early version of the Fokker synchronizer mechanism
controlling a single Parabellum MG14 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.

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 rotary engine which was
essentially a direct copy of the French-made 60 kW (80 hp) Gnome Lambda
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 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"-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.

Total production for the entire Fokker E.I through E.IV series was 416 aircraft
(the exact breakdown by type is nor clear, although the E.III was the most
important model).


Role
Fighter

Manufacturer
Fokker

Designer
Martin Kreutzer

First flight
23 May 1915 (modified M.5 A.16/15 serving as a E.I prototype, flown by Otto
Parschau)

Number built
416

The first Eindecker victory, though unconfirmed, was achieved by Leutnant
Wintgens on 1 July 1915 when, while flying one of the five M.5K/MG production
prototype aircraft, numbered 'E.5/15' near Luneville, he forced down a French
Morane-Saulnier L 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 - initially to provide escort protection for
their usual quantity of six two-seat reconnaissance biplanes per unit.

The arrival in early 1916 of the Airco DH.2 and Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
pusher aircraft, along with the French Nieuport 11, 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 fighter of French flying ace Alfred Heurteaux on September
25, 1916, which resulted in Heurteaux fatally bringing down Wintgens, as
Huerteaux's victory number eight.

Specifications (E.III)

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 9.52 m (31 ft 3 in)
Height: 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 16 m2 (170 sq ft)
Empty weight: 399 kg (880 lb)
Gross weight: 610 kg (1,345 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Oberursel U.I 9-cyl.air-cooled rotary piston engine, 75 kW (100
hp)

Performance
Maximum speed: 140 km/h (87 mph; 76 kn)
Endurance: 1.5 hours
Service ceiling: 3,600 m (11,810 ft)
Rate of climb: 3.333 m/s (656.1 ft/min)
Time to altitude:
1,000 m (3,281 ft) in 5 minutes
3,000 m (9,843 ft) in 30 minutes


Armament

Guns: 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) lMG 08 Spandau machine gun offset to starboard,
synchronised to fire through the propeller.




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