Fokker Eindecker
The
Fokker Eindecker was a
German First World War monoplane single-seat
fighter aircraft designed by
Dutch engineer
Anthony Fokker. Developed in April
1915, the Eindecker ("Monoplane") was the first purpose-built German fighter aircraft and the first aircraft to be fitted with
synchronizer gear, enabling the pilot to fire a
machine gun through the arc of the
propeller without striking the blades. The Eindecker granted the German air force, or "Luftstreitkrafte," almost complete supremacy from July 1915 until early
1916; a period known as the
Fokker Scourge during which Allied aviators regarded themselves as "Fokker Fodder".
The Eindecker went through five variants:
#
Fokker M.5K/MG - 5 built#
Fokker E.I - 68 built#
Fokker E.II - 49 built#
Fokker E.III - 249 built#
Fokker E.IV - 49 built
Total production was 416 aircraft (one aircraft's type is unknown). The main difference between the E.I and E.II was the engine, the former having the 7-cylinder 80 hp
Oberursel U.0 rotary radial engine which was essentially a direct copy of the French-made Gnôme Lambda 80 hp seven cylinder rotary engine, while the latter had the 9-cylinder Oberursel U I 100 hp version, a direct copy of the French Gnôme 100 hp "Monosoupape" rotary engine. Production of the types therefore depended on engine availability and the two variants were built in parallel. Many E.IIs were either completed as E.IIIs or upgraded to E.III standard when returned for repair.
 |
Profile view of an Eindecker at takeoff. |
All Eindeckers used a
gravity fuel tank which had to be constantly filled by hand-pumping from the main fuel tank behind the pilot; this task had to be performed up to eight times an hour. Both the
rudder and
elevator were "balanced" meaning they had no fixed surface making the Eindecker very responsive to
pitch and
yaw however
wing-warping was used instead of
ailerons so roll response was poor. For an inexperienced pilot, achieving level flight was difficult; German ace
Leutnant Kurt Wintgens stated "
lightning is a
straight line compared with the barogram of the first solo."
The Eindecker was based on Fokker's unarmed
A.III scout which was fitted with a synchronizer mechanism controlling a single
Parabellum LMG 14 machine gun. Anthony Fokker personally demonstrated the system, having towed the prototype aircraft behind his touring car to a military airfield near
Berlin. The first Eindecker victory, though unconfirmed, was achieved by Kurt Wintgens on
1 July, 1915 when, while flying one of the five M.5K/MG production prototype aircraft, numbered 'E.5/15', he forced down a
French Morane-Saulnier Type L two seat "parasol" monoplane. By this time the first
Fokker E.Is were arriving at front-line units. The two most famous Eindecker pilots were
Oswald Boelcke and
Max Immelmann, both of
Feldflieger Abteilung 62, who scored their first kills in E.Is in August of 1915. Leutnant Otto Parschau. who was instrumental in the introduction of the Eindecker from the very start, flew the M.5K/MG aircraft numbered E.1/15.
The definitive version of the Eindecker was the
Fokker E.III. Boelcke's
Feld-Flieger Abteilung 62 began operating the E.III towards the end of 1915. Some E.IIIs were armed with twin
Spandau MG 08 machine guns. The final variant was the
Fokker E.IV which received a 160-hp engine and was fitted with twin machine guns as standard.
Boelcke scored the most Eindecker victories; 19 out of his final tally of 40, his last coming on
27 June,
1916. Immelmann had the second-highest Eindecker score, having achieved all his 15 victories in the type before being killed when his E.III broke up in June 1916. Eleven pilots scored five or more victories in the Eindecker. Boelcke, Immelmann and Wintgens all received Germany's highest military decoration, the
Pour le Merite or "Blue Max", while flying the Eindecker.
With the arrival in early 1916 of the
DH.2 and
F.E.2 pushers along with the
Nieuport 11,
Sopwith Pup and
Sopwith 1½ Strutter, the dominance of the Eindecker evaporated and the first Fokker Scourge ended.
Only one original Eindecker remains. On
8 April,
1916, a novice German pilot took off from
Valenciennes with a new E.III (serial number 210/16) bound for
Wasquehal 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 Type N at St. Omer before going to
Upavon in
Wiltshire for evaluation and finally going on museum display. It now resides at the
Science Museum in
London. Immelmann's original E.I also survived the war and went on display in
Dresden where it was destroyed by Allied bombing during the
Second World War.
*Phillip Jarrett, "Database: The Fokker Eindeckers",
Aeroplane Monthly, December 2004
*Windsock Datafile No. 91, Fokker E I/II, Peter M Grosz/Albatros Publications, 2002
*Windsock Datafile No. 15, Fokker E III, Peter M Grosz/Albatros Publications.
*
Science Museum: History of Flight - Fokker E.III 210/16
