Page 8
Eduard Info 2010 page 8
Kits
This Fokker E.II 68/15 was written
off during landing by Leutnant
Bruckmann. Black and white
stripes identify this aircraft as
fl ying with a unit that was at-
tached to Aerm Abteilung Geade
on the Alsatian Front. The black
rudder was likely an identifi er for
aircraft serving with Kampfeinde-
cker Halbabteilung in FFA9b.
Out of this segment later came
KEK Ensisheim, the basis for
the future Jasta 16.
8418 Fokker Eindecker 1/48 WEEKEND EDITION
In the spring of 1915, the air force brass of the warring
nations turned their attention to the question of arming
combat aircraft. The most effective form of arma-
ment was deemed to be a forward ring machine gun
setup, but this was affected by the rotating propeller.
Different air forces approached the problem in different
ways. The French mounted the gun on the top wing,
and above the propeller arc, or ring through the pro-
peller arc which was equipped with de ector strips.
The British introduced pusher aircraft, the engine
being placed behind the cockpit and gun assembly.
The most effective and modern method of solving this
issue was developed by the Germans, when Anthony
Fokker, a Dutchman working in their services, deve-
loped a synchronization mechanism. This preven-
ted ring at the moment when the prop blade traver-
sed the eld of re from the gun. This synchroniza-
tion mechanism was mounted on the single seat mo-
noplane M5K, which Fokker himself demonstrated on
the front at the end of May and the beginning of June,
1915. The success of this type was full and immediate,
and was followed by an order for the supply of these
aircraft to the German air force. Production was initia-
ted quickly, and supplied 415 aircraft spread between
E.I to E.IV versions. When these aircraft reached
combat in the summer and fall of 1915, they brought
with them a distinct change in the direction of the war.
Flown by aggressive pilots such as Boelcke and
Immelmann, the Fokkers elevated the ghter to
a very dangerous weapon, and became a symbol
of the superiority of the German air force in air
combat through the second half of 1915 and into
the beginning of 1916.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Length: 7.30 m
Span: 10.04 m
Empty Weight: 349 kg
Take-off Weight: 604 kg
Maximum Speed: 150 km/h
Powerplant: Oberursel U.I rated at 100 hp
Armament: one LMG 08/15 7.62 mm
machine gun.
Fokker E.II 68/15, Lt. Brückmann, late 1915