Fokker Eindecker E.III replica, Cosford 1993 ©Dave Key
ROLE
Fighter.
FIRST FLIGHT
23 May 1915.
The Eindecker was designed by Anthony Fokker in early 1915; around the Fokker M.5K Scout which itself was designed around the French Morane-Saulnier.
The Eindecker was manufactured from a steel tube fuselage and fitted with a Stangensteuerung synchronizer mechanism to allow a Parabellum MG14 machine gun to fire through the propeller arc.
The Eindecker had an aerodynamically balanced rudder and elevator with the whole of the tail unfixed. This led the aircraft to be extremely sensitive to pitch and yaw making it very difficult for inexperienced pilots to fly straight and level.
The Eindecker was fitted with a gravity fuel tank which had to be filled by operating a hand pump from the main fuel tank up to eight times an hour.
The roll of the Eindecker was controlled by wing-warping rather than ailerons giving a poor roll rate.
The Eindecker E.I was fitted with a seven-cylinder Oberursel U.0 rotary engine producing 80hp. The E.I was upgraded to the E.II with the main difference being the engine which was upgraded to a nine-cylinder Oberursel U I engine producing 100 hp.
The definitive version of the Eindecker was the E.III, which had a narrower-chord wing (71 inch) than its predecessors, entered service at the end of 1915. The E.III was fitted as standard with a single 7.92mm 'Spandau' Light Machine Gun; however a few were fitted with twin machine guns for experimental purposes.
The final variant of the Fokker Eindecker was the E.IV. It was fitted with a Oberursel U.III which was a 14 cylinder, twin-row rotary engine producing 160hp.
The E.IV was originally designed to accommodate 3 'Spandau' machine guns but after unsuccessful trials it was fitted with twin machine guns as standard.
PRODUCTION
The Fokker Eindecker was produced from 1915, with 416 built.
ENGINE
Oberursel U.I Rotary Engine, producing 100 hp.
ARMAMENT
1 x 7.92mm Spandau machine gun, synchronised.
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 1915 while sharing Boelcke's E.3/15 aircraft.
The Eindecker gave the Germans air superiority from mid-1915 until early 1916, this period known as the 'Fokker Scourge'.
The French Nieuport 11 and the British Airo DH.2 pusher aircraft issued in early 1916 bought the ‘Fokker Scourge’ to an end.
| Crew - 1 |
| Length - 23ft 6in (7.2m) |
| Wingspan - 31ft 2in (9.52m) |
| Height - 7ft 9in (2.4m) |
| Empty Weight - 882lb (400kg) |
| Max. Weight - 1,345lb (610kg) |
| Max. Speed - 87 mph (140 km/h) |
| Range - 123 miles (198 km) |
