FOKKER SCOURGE!

Air Classics, Jul 2005 by Makanna, Philip

RECREATING THE FIRST TRUE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT - A MACHINE THAT VERY NEARLY CAUSED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS AND LED TO DRASTIC CHANGES IN AIRCRAFT DESIGN

French Lieutenant Roland Garros had conic up with a devastatingly simple concept. He wanted to tire a fixed machine gun through the whirling propeller of his Morane-Saulnter Type N monoplane so he could attack German aircraft and lighter-than-air ships. What he did was to anchor pieces of armor on the backside of his propeller. Obviously, not all of his bullets would make it through the prop but a significant number would - thus, he could attack and destroy enemy aircraft almost at will. Garros ran rampant over the German flying machines. There was soon a panic among the Germans - had the French come up with a secret weapon?

However, Garros' career was relatively short. On 19 April 1915, an elderly reservist that had been assigned to guard a railway near Courtrai looked skyward as he heard the sound of an engine. Overhead, he saw Garros and the Type N making slow progress through the blue sky. Raising his rifle, he let off one shot which unfortunately, for Garros, hit the fuel line. The engine stopped, but Garros managed to glide down to a safe landing. However, he was behind enemy lines near Ingelmunster. Clambering out of the cockpit, Garros tried to light the fighter on fire hut he was overwhelmed by German troops. The "secret weapon" had heen captured intact.

With the aircraft in hand, the Germans decided to immediately copy the armored prop. A prop was completed, fitted to an engine, and a machine gun was fired through the arc. The propeller hlew apart - either the German armor plate was inferior to the French or German bullets were more powerful!

The Germans consulted with Anthony Fokker and asked him to study the problem. He was given the Garros propeller and a new Parabellum machine gun with ammunition. The fact that Fokker was an alien in the middle of a war did not seem to hother the Germans. Of course, what resulted was the creation of a trigger-actuating synchronization linkage that fired the weapon once during every revolution of the propeller when neither hlade was in the line of fire. Aerial warfare was suddenly revolutionized. Also, it should he noted, that although Fokker claimed the invention was entirely his own. that several other individuals were responsible for this development.

In the air, the combination was tested on a Fokker M.5K monoplane - a bird-like machine that featured wing warping for control. The Germans were impressed. Now, Fokker wanted to design a new aircraft with the M.5K as the hasis. This resulted in the Fokker E.I and an order for around 50 aircraft was placed.

However, creating an efficient fighting force took a bit of doing. Initially, the air divisions were allotted just two aircraft each for defense of their unit and airfield. However, on 1 August 1915 Max Immelmann shot down an enemy aircraft with his Fokker E.I and the beginning of the German fighter had taken place.

The E.I was quickly followed by the E.II, but the ultimate variant of the design was the E.III which had a strengthened airframe and a nine-cylinder Oberursel rotary engine capable of 100-hp. With a rotary engine, the crankshaft is fixed, while the cylinders, crankcase and all the other bits rotate around it.

Although the wings were wood and the wing warping was rather primitive, the E.III had a welded steel tubefe, fuselage and this was to become a Fokker trademark. Ail more Fokkers arrived at the front lines, the "Fokker Scourge" began. On 14 January 1916, an order was issued from Royal Flying Corps headquarters: "Until the Royal Flying Corps are in possession of a machine as good as or better than the German Fokker it seems that a change in the tactics employed becomes necessary. It is hoped very shortly to obtain a machine which will be able to successfully engage the Fokkers at present in use by the Germans. In the meantime, it must be laid down as a hard and fast rule that a machine proceeding on reconnaissance must be escorted by at least three other fighting machines. These machines must fly in close formation and a reconnaissance should not be continued if any of the machines becomes detached. This should apply to both short and distant reconnaissances. Aeroplanes proceeding any considerable distance east of the line should be similarly escorted. From recent experience it seems that the Germans are now employing their aeroplanes in groups of three or four, and these numbers are frequently encountered by our aeroplanes. Flying in close must be practiced by all pilots."

The first Fokker E.IIIs reached the Western Front in August 1915 and with its increased wing span (31-ft 2.7-in) was an immediate success. All fighter pilots wanted to have the E.III when the first three aircraft were displayed at various fields. Substantial orders, the largest Fokker had received, were placed by the Army. The Navy also wanted some E.IIIs for coastal defense. However, production was limited by the output of the Oberursel Motor Works and alternate engines were sought. A Le Rhone rotary of 80-hp was taken from a captured Nieuport and fitted to the prototype E.III. Oddly, both climb and ceiling were increased. Testing of E.IIIs with extra machine guns showed undesirable results and the extra weight decreased performance. A growth variant was the Fokker E.IV which had two guns an a 160-hp Oberursel.