Editing Fighter aircraft (section)

=== 1914–1918: World War I ===
{{Further|Aviation in World War I}}

[[File:SPAD S.A-2 named Ma Jeanne.jpg|thumb|left|[[SPAD S.VII|SPAD]] S.A.2, with gunner in "basket" up front]]

The word "fighter" was first used to describe a two-seat aircraft carrying a machine gun (mounted on a pedestal) and its operator as well as the [[Aviator|pilot]]. Although the term was coined in the United Kingdom, the first examples were the French Voisin pushers beginning in 1910, and a [[Voisin III]] would be the first to shoot down another aircraft, on 5 October 1914.<ref>{{cite book |last=Guttman |first=John |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=is-ij4XZRTIC&pg=PA9 |title=Pusher Aces of World War I |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |page=9 |isbn= 978-1-84603417-6}}</ref>

However at the outbreak of [[World War I]], front-line aircraft were mostly unarmed and used almost exclusively for [[reconnaissance]]. On 15 August 1914, [[Miodrag Tomić]] encountered an enemy airplane while on a reconnaissance flight over Austria-Hungary which fired at his aircraft with a revolver,{{sfn|Glenny|2012|p=316}} so Tomić fired back.{{sfn|Blume|1968|p=291}}{{sfnm|1a1=Glenny|1y=2012|1p=316|2a1=Buttar|2y=2014|2p=298}} It was believed to be the first exchange of fire between aircraft.{{sfn|Buttar|2014|p=298}} Within weeks, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian aircraft were armed.{{sfn|Glenny|2012|p=316}}

Another type of military aircraft formed the basis for an effective "fighter" in the modern sense of the word. It was based on small fast aircraft developed before the war for [[air racing]] such with the Gordon Bennett Cup and [[Schneider Trophy]]. The military [[Scout (aircraft)|scout]] airplane was not expected to carry serious armament, but rather to rely on speed to "scout" a location, and return quickly to report, making it a flying horse. British scout aircraft, in this sense, included the [[Sopwith Tabloid]] and [[Bristol Scout]]. The French and the Germans didn't have an equivalent as they used two seaters for reconnaissance, such as the [[Morane-Saulnier L]], but would later modify pre-war racing aircraft into armed single seaters. It was quickly found that these were of little use since the pilot couldn't record what he saw while also flying, while military leaders usually ignored what the pilots reported.

Attempts were made with handheld weapons such as pistols and rifles and even light machine guns, but these were ineffective and cumbersome.<ref name=woodman31>Woodman, 1989, p. 33</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2024}} The next advance came with the fixed forward-firing machine gun, so that the pilot pointed the entire aircraft at the target and fired the gun, instead of relying on a second gunner. [[Roland Garros (aviator)|Roland Garros]] bolted metal deflector plates to the propeller so that it would not shoot itself out of the sky and a number of [[Morane-Saulnier N]]s were modified. The technique proved effective, however the deflected bullets were still highly dangerous.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Angelucci |first1=A. |last2=Matricardi |first2=P. |title=World Aircraft: Origins – World War I |publisher=Sampson Low |date=1977 |page=110}}</ref>

Soon after the commencement of the war, pilots armed themselves with pistols, [[carbines]], [[grenade]]s, and an assortment of improvised weapons. Many of these proved ineffective as the pilot had to fly his airplane while attempting to aim a handheld weapon and make a difficult deflection shot. The first step in finding a real solution was to mount the weapon on the aircraft, but the propeller remained a problem since the best direction to shoot is straight ahead. Numerous solutions were tried. A second crew member behind the pilot could aim and fire a swivel-mounted machine gun at enemy airplanes; however, this limited the area of coverage chiefly to the rear hemisphere, and effective coordination of the pilot's maneuvering with the gunner's aiming was difficult. This option was chiefly employed as a defensive measure on two-seater reconnaissance aircraft from 1915 on. Both the [[SPAD S.A]] and the [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.9]] added a second crewman ahead of the engine in a pod but this was both hazardous to the second crewman and limited performance. The [[Sopwith L.R.T.Tr.]] similarly added a pod on the top wing with no better luck.
[[File:Jules Védrines in a Nieuport 16 fighter at Vadelaincourt airfield (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Jules Védrines]] in his [[Nieuport 16]], armed with a [[Lewis gun|Lewis]], after clearing the front line of German observation balloons with the first rocket attack in history]]
An alternative was to build a [[Pusher configuration|"pusher"]] scout such as the [[Airco DH.2]], with the propeller mounted behind the pilot. The main drawback was that the high [[Drag (physics)|drag]] of a pusher type's tail structure made it slower than a similar [[Tractor configuration|"tractor"]] aircraft.
A better solution for a single seat scout was to mount the machine gun (rifles and pistols having been dispensed with) to fire forwards but outside the propeller arc. Wing guns were tried but the unreliable weapons available required frequent clearing of [[Firearm malfunction|jammed rounds and misfires]] and remained impractical until after the war. Mounting the machine gun over the top wing worked well and was used long after the ideal solution was found. The [[Nieuport 11]] of 1916 used this system with considerable success, however, this placement made aiming and reloading difficult but would continue to be used throughout the war as the weapons used were lighter and had a higher rate of fire than synchronized weapons. The British [[Foster mounting]] and several French mountings were specifically designed for this kind of application, fitted with either the [[Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié machine gun|Hotchkiss]] or [[Lewis Gun|Lewis Machine gun]], which due to their design were unsuitable for synchronizing. The need to arm a [[tractor scout]] with a forward-firing gun whose bullets passed through the propeller arc was evident even before the outbreak of war and inventors in both France and Germany devised [[Synchronization gear|mechanisms]] that could time the firing of the individual rounds to avoid hitting the propeller blades. [[Franz Schneider (engineer)|Franz Schneider]], a Swiss engineer, had patented such a device in Germany in 1913, but his original work was not followed up. French aircraft designer [[Raymond Saulnier (aircraft manufacturer)|Raymond Saulnier]] patented a practical device in April 1914, but trials were unsuccessful because of the propensity of the machine gun employed to [[hang fire]] due to unreliable ammunition. In December 1914, French aviator [[Roland Garros (aviator)|Roland Garros]] asked Saulnier to install his synchronization gear on Garros' [[Morane-Saulnier Type L]] [[parasol monoplane]]. Unfortunately the gas-operated [[Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun|Hotchkiss]] machine gun he was provided had an erratic rate of fire and it was impossible to synchronize it with the propeller. As an interim measure, the propeller blades were fitted with metal wedges to protect them from [[ricochet]]s. Garros' modified monoplane first flew in March 1915 and he began combat operations soon after. Garros scored three victories in three weeks before he himself was downed on 18 April and his airplane, along with its synchronization gear and propeller was captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, the synchronization gear (called the ''Stangensteuerung'' in German, for "pushrod control system") devised by the engineers of [[Anthony Fokker]]'s firm was the first system to enter service. It would usher in what the British called the "[[Fokker scourge]]" and a period of air superiority for the German forces, making the [[Fokker Eindecker|Fokker ''Eindecker'']] monoplane a feared name over the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], despite its being an adaptation of an obsolete pre-war French [[Morane-Saulnier]] racing airplane, with poor flight characteristics and a by now mediocre performance. The first ''Eindecker'' victory came on 1 July 1915, when ''Leutnant'' [[Kurt Wintgens]], of [[Feldflieger Abteilung]] 6 on the Western Front, downed a Morane-Saulnier Type L. His was one of five [[Fokker M.5]]K/MG prototypes for the ''Eindecker'', and was armed with a synchronized aviation version of the [[Parabellum MG14]] machine gun.{{sfn|Munson|1976|p=161}} The success of the ''Eindecker'' kicked off a competitive cycle of improvement among the combatants, both sides striving to build ever more capable single-seat fighters. The [[Albatros D.I]] and [[Sopwith Pup]] of 1916 set the classic pattern followed by fighters for about twenty years. Most were [[biplane]]s and only rarely monoplanes or [[triplane]]s. The strong box structure of the biplane provided a rigid wing that allowed the accurate control essential for [[dogfighting]]. They had a single operator, who flew the aircraft and also controlled its armament. They were armed with one or two [[Maxim gun|Maxim]] or [[Vickers]] machine guns, which were easier to synchronize than other types, firing through the propeller arc. Gun breeches were in front of the pilot, with obvious implications in case of accidents, but jams could be cleared in flight, while aiming was simplified.

[[File:Fokker DR1 at Airpower11 18.jpg|thumb|left|A replica German [[Fokker Dr.I]]]]
The use of metal aircraft structures was pioneered before World War I by Breguet but would find its biggest proponent in Anthony Fokker, who used chrome-molybdenum steel tubing for the fuselage structure of all his fighter designs, while the innovative German engineer [[Hugo Junkers]] developed two all-metal, single-seat fighter monoplane designs with [[cantilever]] wings: the strictly experimental [[Junkers J 2]] private-venture aircraft, made with steel, and some forty examples of the [[Junkers D.I]], made with corrugated [[duralumin]], all based on his experience in creating the pioneering [[Junkers J 1]] all-metal airframe technology demonstration aircraft of late 1915. While Fokker would pursue steel tube fuselages with wooden wings until the late 1930s, and Junkers would focus on corrugated sheet metal, Dornier was the first to build a fighter (the [[Dornier-Zeppelin D.I]]) made with pre-stressed sheet aluminum and having cantilevered wings, a form that would replace all others in the 1930s. As collective combat experience grew, the more successful pilots such as [[Oswald Boelcke]], [[Max Immelmann]], and [[Edward Mannock]] developed innovative tactical formations and maneuvers to enhance their air units' combat effectiveness.

Allied and&nbsp;– before 1918&nbsp;– German pilots of World War I were not equipped with [[parachute]]s, so in-flight fires or structural failures were often fatal. Parachutes were well-developed by 1918 having previously been used by balloonists, and were adopted by the German flying services during the course of that year. The well-known [[Manfred von Richthofen]], the "Red Baron", was wearing one when he was killed, but the allied command continued to oppose their use on various grounds.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Arthur Gould |title=No Parachute |location=London |publisher=Jarrolds |date=1968 |isbn=0-09-086590-1}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2024}}

In April 1917, during a brief period of German aerial supremacy a British pilot's average life expectancy was calculated to average 93 flying hours, or about three weeks of active service.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Eric |last1=Lawson |first2=Jane |last2=Lawson |title=The First Air Campaign: August 1914–November 1918 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9PGHckhHiX0C&pg=PT123 |year=2007 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81668-0 |page=123}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Harry |last=Furniss |title=Memoirs One: The Flying Game |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqlZ0cSkUWcC&pg=PT183 |year=2000 |publisher=Trafford |isbn=978-1-55212-513-7 |page=183}}</ref> More than 50,000 airmen from both sides died during the war.<ref>John Buckley (1998). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0_-DJcwmQ20C Air power in the age of total war]''", {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170329152848/https://books.google.com/books?id=0_-DJcwmQ20C |date=29 March 2017 }}. Taylor & Francis. p. 43. {{ISBN|1-85728-589-1}}</ref>