Eindecker

In April of 1916 a Fokker E.III landed behind enemy lines. The aircraft found its way to its way to England and was tested
at the British UPAVON facility in May of 1916. This is their report in part.

CONSUMPTION TRAILS (at UPAVON, 30 May 1916)
Weight of pilot: 180 lbs.
Length of flying time: 10:50 am to 12:07 PM--1 hour 17 minutes
Consumption: Fuel: 12 1/4 gallons 9.5 gallons per hour
Oil: 3 gallons 2.3 gallons per hour
Engine revs: 1,140 to 1,180 (on ground)
Average air speed: 71-72 miles per hour
Time to 8,000 feet altitude: 17 minutes

General Remarks
Unstable laterally, longitudinally and directionally
Amount of vibration in air is very little indeed
All controls are convenient to pilot
Tiring to fly is all but still air
Length of run: to unstick is 75 yards; to pull up, engine stopped, 80 yards
Ease of landing: easy
Time to ready engine for starting is 3 minutes
Remarks: machine persistently flies right wing down, impossible to cure without setting springs to control stick

Eindecker EIII 1.jpg (44515 bytes)
Fokker M.14V at Fokker factory in 1915

Simplicity of fuselage and its construction. There are no lugs or sockets involved
Ease of dismantling and lugs for wings to attach to fuselage for transport
Wings are protected--there are knobs to eliminate leading edge damage.
Entire edge of wing has bound, hardwood covering for protection
Control stick is well designed with engine cut-out and gun trigger where pilot
grips the two hand grip stick Also locking lever.
Compass on right wing is easily seen but probably affected by metal in fuselage
Instruments are all suitable and well placed
Pilot's seat is adjustable fore and aft and up and down
Wheels are well separated
Tail skid is fixed but should be shearable-all scouts have this problem and it
complicates taxing and landing in confined spaces
Observation trap doors are a good idea and well fitted. The British should do
as well in their work
Gun sights are difficult for the pilot to use because of the slipstream from the
propeller
Fabric is very poor and probably heavy. Germans unable to grow flax and
manufacture quality linens as in British Isles because of bad climactic conditions
Miscellaneous: all wire and turnbuckle work finished off very nicely showing
greater attention to detail than British fabricators

There is only one Fokker E.III known to exist at this time. It hangs from the
ceiling in the aeronautics section of the National Museum of Science and Industry,
South Kensington, England. It is believed by most historians that this E.III
is the one that was tested at Upavon in 1916.

MANUFACTURER:	Fokker Flugzeug-Werek GmbH
POWER PLANT :	Oberursel U.O, 9 cylinder, rotary, 100 h.p.
WING SPAN:	31 ft. 2 3/4 in.
LENGTH:	23 ft. 7 1/2 in.
HEIGHT:	9 ft. 1 3/4 in.
EMPTY WEIGHT:	877.8 lbs.
GROSS WEIGHT:	1342 lbs.
MAX. SPEED:	88 m.p.h.
CEILING:	11,500 ft.
ENDURANCE:	1 1/2 hrs.
ARMAMENT:	1 or 2 Spandau 7.92 mm. Machine guns
FAMOUS PILOTS:	Ernst Udet, Max Immelmann, Kurt Wintgens, Oswald Boelcke, Edward Bohme