Fokker E.III

The Fokker Eindeckers were not famous for their flying qualities, they were made famous by the first synchronized gun deployed on a fighter and by the new combat tactics that innovation allowed. The Fokker E.III was by far the most numerous type, with 249 to 282 of them built and accepted of the 415 Eindeckers overall.

The shorter wingspan of the E.II negatively affected its flying characteristics, and the E.III returned to the wider wings of the E.I and added a compass in the starboard wing. A few E.IIIs had twin machine guns, but it was not common because it greatly reduced the E.IIIs climb.

The British staged a mock dogfight between a captured E.III and a Morane-Saulnier Type N and found that "the Morane was all over the Fokker. It climbed quicker, it was faster on the level, and ... the Morane had everything its own way".

E.III's first arrived at the front in August 1915. They had an immediate impact, both in valuable fighter training for many German pilots and on the enemy air corps, whose pilots complained they were "Fokker Fodder". By mid-1916 the Eindeckers had met their match in planes like the Nieuport 11, DH2, and FE2b, but fortunately for the German pilots there were intermediate replacements like the Halberstadts before the arrival of the game-changing Albatros D.I-III.

Card Links

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Aircraft Chart

1:144 Scale

 * Ares: WGF105A Immelmann; WGS105B Hautzmayer; WGS105C Buddecke
 * Shapeways: Arctic Skunk; Decapod; Kampfflieger; Reduced Aircraft Factory; wow
 * Plastic Kit: Valom 14414, 14420
 * Metal kit: ,

1:285/6mm/1:288 Scale

 * Shapeways: Decapod; Reduced Aircraft Factory
 * Metal Kit: CinC MS-74
 * Metal Cast:

1:300 Scale

 * Metal Kit: Heroics & Ros GWA310

1:350 Scale

 * Shapeways: Kampfflieger