Fokker E. III, by Fokker Flugzeugwerke

Main role: Fighter

Engine: 1 x 9-cylindre air-cooled Oberursel U.1 75 kW (100 hp)

Armament: 1 x 7.9 mm Parabellum or MG 08/15 machine-gun

When it appeared in the late summer of 1915, the Fokker E.I was the world’s first true fighter, for despite its poor performance and indifferent monoplane structure (derived from its M.5k unarmed predecessor) it was armed with a machine-gun enabled to fire directly forward through the propeller disc by the world’s first practical interrupter gear. The E.I (few built) was underpowered, and succeeded by the E.II with greater power (23 built) and then by the definitive E.III (between 120 and 150 built) with the same engine but a number of detail improvements. This was the aircraft of the 1915/16 ‘Fokker Scourge’ in which these poor aircraft prevailed because of their armament and the skill of their pilots. Allied developments prompted the E.IV with two guns and greater power, but this lacked any real agility. (source: The International Encyclopedia of Aircraft, Oriole Publishing, 1991)

Span: 9.5 m (31 ft)

Length: 7.2 m (23.6 ft)

Height: 2.4 m (7.8 ft)

Wing surface: 16 m² (172.3 ft²)

Empty weight: 610 kg (1344.8 lbs)

Max. weight: 

 

Cruise speed: 

Max. speed: 140 km/h (87 mph)

Ceiling: 3500 m (11.483 ft)

Endurance: 1.5 hours

Climb rate: 200 m (656 ft) / minute   

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