WAR

in the fall of 1915 the Germans began to realize that the Fokker victories they
were enjoying were costly to them as well as to the Allies. While the Allies tied
up four times as many aeroplanes for each reconnaissance flight as before the
"Fokker Scourge," seeking safety in numbers but reducing results by that proportion,
the Germans had lost something in the way of observation and artillery
co-operation by providing pilots for Fokkers at the expense of the two-seater
squadrons. Not every Fokker pilot was a Boelcke or an Immelmann, and so to
give increased effectiveness to the Eindecker, it was re-engined from the fall of
1915 with a 160-horsepower Oberiirsel rotary engine and armed with two guns.
Only about 50 examples of this model, the E IV, were produced. By the spring of
1916 the Eindecker had had its day. For one thing, the Nieuport Bebe outclassed
it on every count. For another, the British had introduced two new machines,
both pushers with front-firing guns that required, obviously, no interrupter or
synchronizing gear. One was the D.H.2, a single-seater, which had been designed
specifically as a fighter and of which the first fighter squadron in the RFC was
composed. Commanded by Major Lanoe G. Hawker, No. 24 Squadron had come
to France in February 1916.
It had become apparent that if the air service was "eyes" for the army on
one side in the war, it was "eyes" for the army on the other. If one side became
"blind" with its aeroplanes shot down, so would the other. To protect British
two-seaters on observation and photography flights, and chase away Germans on
theirs, the British produced the D.H.2 as a fighter and sent it to France. It was
slightly faster than, and climbed twice as fast as, the Eindecker; it was stronger
and more manoeuvrable. The British pilots credited the D.H.2 with ending the
"Fokker Scourge." (Since the Nieuport Bebe appeared eight months earlier than
the D.H.2 it is easy to guess which aeroplane the French give the credit to.)
The other British machine was a two-seater, the F.E.2b, which went to France
early in 1916 with No. 20, 22, 23, and 25 Squadrons, RFC. The original F.E.
was a pre-war design, but the 2b model had been considerably revamped, and
with a new powerplant, a 160-horsepower Beardmore, and a flexible Lewis gun
in the front seat, it was able to hold its own against the Fokker.
F.E.2b
o_i. —
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