Editing Fokker Scourge (section)

==Background==

===Early air warfare===

[[File:Vickers F.B.9.jpg|thumb|Vickers "gunbus" biplanes had the engine behind the pilot which gave an unobstructed field of fire for the machine gun]]
As [[aerial warfare]] developed, the Allies gained a lead over the Germans by introducing machine-gun armed types such as the [[Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus]] fighter and the [[Morane-Saulnier L]].<ref>Cheesman 1960, p. 177.</ref><ref>Bruce 1989, pp. 2–4.</ref> By early 1915, the German {{lang|de|[[Oberste Heeresleitung]]}} (OHL, Supreme Army Command) had ordered the development of machine-gun-armed aircraft to counter those of the Allies. The new [[Idflieg aircraft designation system|"C" class]], armed two-seaters and twin-engined "K" (later "G") class aircraft such as the [[AEG G.I]] were attached in ones and twos to {{lang|de|[[Feldflieger Abteilung]]en}} (FFA) artillery-observation and reconnaissance detachments for "fighter" sorties, mostly the escort of unarmed aircraft.<ref name="Franks p. 1"/><ref name="Van Wyngarden p. 18">Van Wyngarden 2006, p. 18.</ref><ref>Jones, 2002, p. 469</ref>

On 18 April 1915, the Morane-Saulnier L of [[Roland Garros (aviator)|Roland Garros]] was captured, after he was forced to land behind the German lines.<ref name="Bruce p. 3">Bruce 1989, p. 3.</ref> From 1{{nbsp}}April, Garros had destroyed three German aircraft in the Morane, which carried a machine-gun firing through the propeller arc. Saulnier had failed to develop a synchroniser and with Garros, as an interim solution, fitted metal wedges to the propeller; bullets that hit the blades were deflected by them.<ref>Cheesman 1960, p. 178.</ref><ref name="Bruce p. 3"/> Garros burned his aircraft but this failed to conceal the nature of the device and the significance of the deflector blades. The German authorities requested several aircraft manufacturers, including that of [[Anthony Fokker]], to produce a copy.<ref name="Bruce p. 3"/>

===Synchronisation gear===
{{main|Synchronization gear}}
[[File:Interrupter gear diagram en.png|thumb|left|Diagram of Fokker's "{{lang|de|Stangensteuerung}}" synchronisation mechanism]]
<!-- [[File:Fok E I's U-0 & Stangensteuerung.jpg|thumb|Detail of an early Fokker Eindecker: the cowling is off, showing the prototype form of the {{lang|de|Stangensteuerung}} gear, connected directly to the oil pump drive at the rear of the engine.]]-->
The Fokker company produced the {{lang|de|Stangensteuerung}} (push rod controller), a genuine [[Synchronization gear#The Fokker Stangensteuerung gear|synchronisation gear]]. Impulses from a cam driven by the engine controlled the timing of the machine-gun for its fire to be limited to the intervals between the propeller blades' travel past the barrel.<ref name="Grosz p.2">Grosz 1989, p. 2.</ref> Unlike earlier proposed gears, the {{lang|de|Stangensteuerung}} was fitted to an aircraft and proved effective. In a postwar biography, Fokker claimed that he produced the gear in 48{{nbsp}}hours but it was probably designed by [[Heinrich Lübbe]], a {{lang|de|Fokker Flugzeugbau}} engineer.<ref name=Weyl1>Weyl 1965, p. 96.</ref> Among several pre-war patents for similar devices was that of [[Franz Schneider (engineer)|Franz Schneider]], a Swiss engineer who had worked for [[Nieuport]] and the German [[LVG]] company.<ref name="Grosz p.2"/><ref>Woodman 1989, pp. 180–183.</ref>

The device was fitted to the most suitable Fokker type, the [[Fokker M.5K]] (military type name "Fokker A.III"), of which A.16/15, assigned to [[Otto Parschau]], became the prototype of the [[Fokker Eindecker fighters#Leutnant Parschau and the Green Machine (A16/15)|Fokker Eindecker]] series of fighter designs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grosz |first=Peter M. |year=2002 |title=Fokker E I/II |series=Windsock Datafile No. 91 |url=https://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/91-fokker-eiii-210-p.asp |location=Berkhamsted |publisher=Albatros |pages=6–9 |isbn=1-902207-46-7}}</ref><ref name="Gray and Thetford p. 83">Gray and Thetford 1961, p. 83.</ref> Fokker demonstrated A.16/15 in May and June 1915 to German fighter pilots, including [[Kurt Wintgens]], [[Oswald Boelcke]] and [[Max Immelmann]].<ref>Van Wyngarden 2006, p. 9.</ref> The Fokker, with its typical {{lang|fr|Morane}} controls, an over-sensitive balanced elevator and dubious lateral control, was difficult to fly; Parschau, who was experienced on Fokker{{nbsp}}A types, converted pilots to the new fighter.<ref>Immelmann 2009, p. 77.</ref><ref name="Van Wyngarden p. 10">Van Wyngarden 2006, p. 10.</ref> The early {{lang|de|Eindeckers}} were attached to FFAs, in ones and twos, to protect reconnaissance machines from Allied machine-gun-armed aircraft.<ref name="Gray and Thetford p. 83"/>