|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
History of WWI Aircraft
|
||
|
Page1
Shooting through the propeller The game had begun! Studies for enhancing the qualities of aircraft started almost immediately with the beginning of the war and the first step was the construction of a forward firing machine gun.
Roland Garros was the first to place a Hotchkiss MG (machine gun) on his Morane-Saulnier L but he had given up to the idea of synchronizing the shooting and had simply covered the exposed part of the propeller with bullet deflector plates witch were also mounted on the Morane-Saulnier N "Bullet". But the brilliant Dutch designer Anthony Fokker did more than this, he projected a synchronizing gear that prevented the gun from firing when the propeller was moving right in front of it. Enthusiast of his work he designed the Fokker E.I "Eindecker" which had a synchronous Spandau machine gun. It was followed by the E.II, E.III, and E.IV (experimentally fitted with three Spandaus ). The E.III easily outperformed the Morane-Saulnier which was a bit faster but more difficult to fly
After the uneventful Fokker D.I prototype as a replacement for the outdated "E" series, the D.II was able to earn a production order. It mounted the Oberursel U.I delivering 100 hp 9 cylinder rotary engine. Soon after followed the Fokker D.III. A strengthened airframe, modified undercarriage and the ever obsolescent Oberursel U .III were the main differences between the two types. Although the twin-row, 14-cylinder rotary put out 160 hp, the gain in speed (160 km/h) was only marginal being only 10 km/h more than its predecessor's and climb rate was improved in the same ungainly way. Maneuverability was significantly reduced by the lack of flexibility of the power plant as happened with the E.IV. The D.II-III were almost totally withdrawn with the advent of the Albatroses and Halberstadts but well known aces like Boelcke and von Richtofen briefly flew the D.III in spring-summer 1916 when the first Jastas were being formed. First Nieuports and the D.H.2
It was not until the end of the 1915 that the British and French were able to end the "Fokker Scourge" with the appearance of the french Nieuport 17 first equipped with a Lewis gun mounted on the upper wing like the Nieuport 10 and 11 that was later replaced with the synchronous Vickers MG. The two types (11 and 17) were fitted with Le Rhône 9C 80 hp and 9J 110-9cylinder rotary engines which were widely used in the first half of the war. Large numbers of Nieuport 17s remained active in many sectors of the front even with the the introduction of the SPADs. Small, agile and fairly fast, they seemed not to suffer confrontations with the new Albatros D.III or Halberstadts and many aces regarded the excellent handling capabilities up to the point of rejecting such machines as the SE5a which was the case of Albert Ball.
The British tried to solve the problem of the forward firing gun by putting the engine at the rear of the aircraft, this was the basic concept of the Airco D.H.2, with its Gnome Monosoupape 100 hp that with its 93 mph (the Fokker E.III reached only 88) and relatively maneuverable lasted at the front much longer than other types did. It was followed by the F.E.8 almost an improved D.H.2. Like the forerunner it was slow and fragile and the mass was distributed improperly. The pusher fighter line ended for they were inadequate facing the increasing number of Albatros D.I-IIs and the new Sopwith scouts were far more advanced with their synchronous machineguns.
|
||
|
ABOUT GALLERY VRML files RcCad page F M S users Links&Rings WWI Aircraft |
||
