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10/02/2003. Remarks by Dan
Shumaker, Dave
Simpson and Dan Gluckstein (via Dave): "The lineage of the E
series of fighters began in April 19, 1915 when Lt. Roland Garros
flying a Morane-Saulnier Type L parasol crashed behind enemy lines.
The significance of this was event was that he had adapted a
hotchkiss machine gun to fire through the arc of the planes propeller...
Fokker E.Is (Eindecker or monoplane Is) with 80 HP Oberursel rotary
engines armed with either LMG.08 Spandau or maxim-Type gun.
The E.V was designed by Reinhold Platz, who became Fokker's chief
engineer in 1917 and believed in cantilever wing construction, with a
monoplane as the ideal airframe to reduce drag, in contrast to the
externally braced designs of the time. When first produced in 1918,
the plane bore the designation E.V, since it was the fifth Fokker
monoplane entering military service. Wing failures in production
models were due to poor workmanship in construction, leading to
retesting and certification of the original wing design and the
requirement that Fokker provide new wings built to specification to
be refitted to the E.Vs already delivered. The refitted and
subsequently built airframes had their designation changed to Fokker
D.VIII, although some refitted E.Vs continued in service without the
change to D.VIII carried out in the field, so in fact the E.V and
D.VIII are the same plane. |
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