Fokker Scourge

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The Fokker Scourge was a term coined by the British press in the summer of 1915 during World War I. It applied to a period of time when the new Dutch Fokker E.I design (in German service) became operational — the first plane to enter service with an "synchronization gear" (often referred to, and mistakenly so, as an "interrupter gear"), which enabled a machine gun to fire straight ahead through the propeller, the bullets being precisely timed to miss the blades. This gave the plane superiority over existing designs of fighter aircraft, which had guns mounted in less convenient positions, and a large number of Allied aircraft were quickly shot down. By the end of the summer the German Luftstreitkräfte had air superiority, making Allied access to vital intelligence derived from continual aerial reconnaissance more dangerous to acquire. This created a major scandal in Britain.

This aircraft - also commonly known as Eindecker (Ger "Monoplane") was the first real fighter aircraft to be developed for the German air force.

New Allied designs were soon in production which were a technical match for the Fokker such as the F.E.2 and Airco DH.2 "pushers" and the tiny Nieuport 11. However, when the Germans introduced the Albatros D.II in August 1916, and then the Albatros D.III in December 1916, they were able to again turn the tables, and in the spring of 1917 caused very high casualties in the R.F.C. — a period known as "Bloody April".

In the following two years, Allied aviation became overwhelming in both quality and quantity, with the result that the Germans were only able to maintain limited control over a small area of the front at any time. When even this 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". 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 Treaty of Versailles.