Fokker Eindecker fighters
Fokker Eindecker III | |
---|---|
Captured Fokker E.III 210/16 in flight at Upavon, Wiltshire in 1916. | |
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)[1] |
Number built | 416 |
The Fokker Eindecker fighters were a series of German
Design and development
The Eindecker was based on Fokker's unarmed
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, who was allotted this aircraft, then a Fokker A-series unarmed scout with the serial number A.16/15, at the beginning of World War I. This aircraft had been privately purchased in 1913 by Oberleutnant Waldemar von Buttlar,[3] and requisitioned by the Fliegertruppe along with his commissioning as an officer in the Prussian Army at the outbreak of hostilities, and had been painted a shade of green, the color of von Buttlar's previous Marburg-based Jäger regiment.[4] Parschau had served[5] 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 and Western 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.
Near the end of May 1915, while it was based at
Sheet metal parts finish on the Eindeckers
One distinctive feature of the appearance of all the sheet metal panelling on the Eindeckers was a special form of "dragged"
Fuel system details and flight characteristics
All the E.I to E.IV Eindeckers used a
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 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 Delta. 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.[8] 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
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
The first Eindecker victory, though unconfirmed, was achieved by Leutnant Wintgens in the late afternoon of 1 July 1915[9] when, while flying one of the five M.5K/MG production prototype/"service test" aircraft, numbered 'E.5/15' near Lunéville, 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.
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.
The two most famous Eindecker pilots were Oswald Boelcke (initially flying M.5K/MG service test aircraft E.3/15) and Max Immelmann, 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, 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, and Wintgens all received Germany's highest military decoration, the Pour le Mérite 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
Variants
- Fokker M.5
- Fokker's first monoplane unarmed scout, in effect the "airframe prototype" of all the early Fokker Eindeckers.
- Fokker M.5K
- 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.0rotary engine; at least one was built.
- Fokker A.III
- Military designation for the M.5K unarmed scouting aircraft powered by an 80hp Oberursel U.0rotary engine; 5 built (see M.5K/MG).
- Fokker E.I
- Production armed scout aircraft powered by an 80hp Oberursel U.0rotary engine, 68 built
- Fokker E.II
- Improved production armed scout aircraft powered by a 100hp Oberursel U.I rotary engine, 49 built
- Fokker E.III
- The major production variant also powered by a 100hp Oberursel U.I rotary engine with improved structure and equipment, 249 built
- Fokker E.IV
- The final version of the early Eindeckers the E.IV was slightly enlarged, fitted with a 14-cyl. Oberursel U.IIIengine and two machine guns above the forward fuselage, 49 built
Note: The
Survivors
Only one original Eindecker remains. On 8 April 1916, a novice German pilot took off from
Specifications (E.III)
Data from German Aircraft of the First World War[10]
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)
- Range: 198 km (123 mi, 107 nmi)
- 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
- Wing loading: 38 kg/m2 (7.8 lb/sq ft)
Armament
- Guns: 1 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) lMG 08 Spandau machine gun offset to starboard, synchronised to fire through the propeller.
See also
- Fokker Scourge
- Morane-Saulnier N
- Synchronization gear
- Oswald Boelcke
- Max Immelmann
- Otto Parschau
- Kurt Wintgens
References
- Notes
- ^ a b Dierikx 1997, p. 31.
- ^ a b Boyne 1988
- ISBN 978-1-906798-22-2. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ^ vanWyngarden 2006, p. 9.
- ISBN 978-1-84176-997-4.
- ^ Grosz 2002, pp. 6–8.
- ^ Grosz 2002, p.9
- ISBN 1-84176-997-5.
- ^ Sands, Jeffrey, "The Forgotten Ace, Ltn. Kurt Wintgens and his War Letters", Cross & Cockade USA, Summer 1985.
- ISBN 0-370-00103-6.
- Bibliography
- ISBN 0-689-31422-1.
- Dierikx, Marc. Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. ISBN 1-56098-735-9.
- Grosz, Peter M. Fokker E I/II (Windsock Datafile No. 91). Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-902207-46-7.
- Grosz, Peter M. Fokker E III (Windsock Datafile No. 15). Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 1989. ISBN 0-948414-19-7.
- Jarrett, Philip. "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. ISBN 1-84176-997-5.
External links
- Model of Fokker Eindecker, c.1916 NSW Migration Heritage Centre - Statement of Significance
- Airdrome Aeroplanes Replica Fokker kits in 75% and 100% scale