In what would turn out to be a game changer in the annals of air combat, the Fokker Eindecker earned itself a fearsome reputation when it first appeared over the trenches. Although not available in great numbers, Allied air losses soon rose sharply between late 1915 and mid1916, a period known as the ‘Fokker Scourge’, Allied aircrew reportedly referring to themselves as "Fokker Fodder.” The revolution was that the pilot of the Eindecker could ‘aim’ his fighter at an opponent and fire, resulting in far superior accuracy.
This could be accomplished without shooting off the propeller in the process! Anthony Fokker had successfully refined an earlier attempt at solving the conundrum of firing bullets safely through the propeller arc and went on to produce a far better system. He implemented interrupter gear driven off the engine which synchronized the gun, stopping it momentarily as the propeller blades crossed the line of fire. This allowed the bullets to pass between the blades unhindered. Only one original example of this little fighter survives, but there are a few airworthy replicas extant and Omaka is fortunate to host one of these. This aircraft was built in Germany by noted WW-I Fokker specialist Achim Engels and flew for a couple of years in Australia prior to making its way here in 2023 on long-term loan to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre.
Another Eindecker can be viewed in a dramatic tableau in the Omaka AHC's 'Knights of the sky' museum hall. More recently, an initiative to produce another three flying Eindeckers was instigated on the airfield to furnish more local dogfight potential against the already advanced batch of DH.2s presently under way, adding further aerial excitement in the years ahead.
Omaka has a very long history with Fokker aeroplanes going back to the Fokker Trimotor 'The Southern Cross' that visited here from the late 1920s, and there are presently over a dozen Great War Fokkers of different models represented on the field!
About Marlborough Lines Classic Fighters Omaka: The airshow is the main fundraising event for the Omaka Aviation Heritage Museum, located in Blenheim, Marlborough NZ.
