Fokker Scourge

The Fokker Scourge was a term coined by the British press in the summer of 1915 to describe the then-current ascendancy of the Fokker Eindecker monoplane fighters of the German Fliegertruppen over the poorly-armed Allied reconnaissance types of the period.

Background

The E.5/15 Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker aircraft of Leutnant Kurt Wintgens, which started the period of the "Fokker Scourge" on July 1, 1915.

The early months of the First World War saw the tentative beginnings of air-to-air combat, at first using improvised armament of pistols, rifles and free-mounted adapted machine guns of the period. The first purpose-designed fighter aircraft included the British Vickers F.B.5 - machine gun armament was also fitted to several French types, such as the Morane-Saulnier L and N. Initially the German Air Service lagged behind the Allies in this respect with no purpose built fighting aircraft.

However, in July 1915 the Fokker E.I became operational — this was the first type to enter service with the pioneering example of a "synchronization gear" (often referred to mistakenly as an "interrupter gear"), the Fokker Stangensteuerung, which enabled a fixed machine gun to fire forwards through the arc of the propeller without striking its blades. Its main advantage was that the pilot was now able to take aim by pointing his aircraft at his target, a very simple and intuitive procedure, especially for the pilot of a single seat aircraft. This aircraft and its successors - also commonly known as the Eindecker (German for "Monoplane") for the first time supplied an equivalent to Allied fighters.

Leutnants Otto Parschau and Kurt Wintgens were the pioneers in introducing the Eindecker to combat service in the late spring and early summer of 1915, and with Wintgens scoring his first three aerial victories in the first two weeks of July 1915 (unconfirmed on July 1 and 4, first confirmed victory on the 15th, all over Morane-Saulnier L two-seaters) the period of the "Fokker Scourge" began.

Results

By late 1915 the Germans had achieved air superiority, making Allied access to vital intelligence derived from continual aerial reconnaissance more dangerous to acquire. In particular the relative defencelessness of Allied reconnaissance types was exposed. The first regularly scoring German ace pilots - notably Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke began their careers at this time.

The number of actual Allied casualties involved was relatively small compared with the intensive air fighting of 1917-18. The deployment of the eindeckers was less than overwhelming - the new type was issued in ones and twos to existing reconnaissance squadrons - and it was to be nearly a year before the Germans followed the British in establishing specialist fighter squadrons. The eindecker was also, in spite of its advanced armament, by no means an outstanding aircraft.

Nonetheless, the impact on morale of the fact that the Germans were fighting back effectively in the air war created a major scandal in the British parliament and press. The aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps in France, especially the British Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2, were widely described as Fokker Fodder.

Fortunately for the Allies two new British fighters were already in production which were a technical match for the Fokker.The F.E.2b and the D.H.2 were both "pushers" and could fire forwards without gun synchronisation. The F.E.2b reached the front with No 20 Squadron in January 1916 and the D.H.2 in February. On the French front the tiny Nieuport 11, a tractor biplane with a forward firing gun mounted high on the top wing above the arc of the propeller, also proved a match for the German fighter when it entered service with Escadrille N.3 in January 1916. With these new types the French re-established air superiority by the closing stages of the Battle of Verdun and the British in time for the start of the Battle of the Somme, and the "Fokker Scourge" was effectively over.

Synchronised guns nonetheless quickly became the norm. Later versions of the Nieuport, as well as most new Allied fighters, were fitted with them for the rest of the war.

Aftermath

Like the Fokker scourge, the period of Allied air superiority which followed it was brief. By August 1916 the fighters in the Luftstreitkräfte had been grouped into specialist fighter squadrons, the Jagdstaffeln, and these units were receiving the first of the new Albatros fighters. These were once more able to turn the tables, and by the spring of 1917 were causing very high casualties in the R.F.C. — culminating in "Bloody April" of 1917.

In the following two years Allied Air Forces became overwhelming in both quality and quantity, and the German forces were only able to maintain limited control over a small area of the front at any time. When even this strategy seemed threatened, they started a crash programme to develop a new aircraft. The result was the famous Fokker D.VII, leading to a short but notable second "Fokker Scourge" in the summer of 1918. The Fokker D.VII was so effective that Germany was required to surrender all of them to the victorious allies as a condition of the Armistice of Compiègne.