Editing Fokker Scourge (section)

===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"/>