Fokker D.I (English)

D.I

The Fokker DI

The Fokker DI was a fighter aircraft from the First World War.
Contrary to what the name suggests, the DI (M.18ZF / M.18ZK) was the successor to the D.II (M.17ZF / M.17ZK).
Both Fokkers entered service simultaneously with the German army, which received the first ninety aircraft around July/August 1916.
Another sixteen DIs went to the Austro-Hungarian aviation forces.
The DI had ailerons in the wing or wing warping system.
The DI had one Spandau LMG.08/15 machine gun and was equipped with a six-cylinder 120 hp Mercedes D II inline engine.
The DI would serve as the basis for the D.III and the D.IV.
The aircraft was also built under license at MAG, Magyar Általános Gépgyár, (General Hungarian Machine Factory) in Hungary, among others for the Austro-Hungarian Army.

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01

wn 501 Prototype, here still with square rudder, the upper wing is equipped with ailerons.
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02

wn 501 Prototype in the air, showing the protruding ailerons in the upper wing.
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03

The 210/16 crashed, the pilot luckily survived, DI version without ailerons.
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04

This DI is also a version with ailerons.
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05

The well-known Fokker transport method also applied to the DI wings next to the fuselage and transported behind a truck.
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06

Rear view of the DI
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07

Anthony Fokker, wearing a flying cap, explains to the German army authorities how the synchronized machine gun works. The synchronization between the machine gun and the propeller allows shooting between the blades of the rotating propeller, without hitting the propeller.
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08

Anthony Fokker left and right Hans Joachim Buddecke in front of a DI
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09

The six-cylinder 120 hp Mercedes engine of the DI, the fuel tank is located behind the pilot's seat.
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10

April 1916, 13 DI fuselages in a row at the Fokker factory in Schwerin, most of the aircraft already having the engine fitted.
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11

This LF 220 registered German Navy DI, without ailerons in the wing, had a vertical fin fitted in front of the rudder, this would later be fitted to several D.I's.
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12

The prototype with wn 501 went as 04.11 to the KuK Austro-Hungarian Luftfahrttruppe.
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13

The 04.11 wn 501 of the KuK Austro-Hungarian Luftfahrttruppe is brought to its take-off point here.
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14

Anthony Fokker in front of the Prototype of the DI with wn 501.
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15

wn 501 D.I Prototype.
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16

wn 670 the 140/16 without ailerons in the wing.
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17

Martin Kreutzer, the designer of the DI, in front of the 140/16 with wn 670.
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18

The 141/16 wn 671 with ailerons in the wing.
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19

The 159/16 with wn 711.
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20

Side view of this unregistered DI with wn 782.
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21

The 208/16 of the “Beobachter Schule Cöln” as can be read in an abbreviation on the back of the fuselage, the scout school in Cologne.
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22

The 216/16 wn 861 with keel fin.
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23

The 04.15 of the Austro-Hungarian army on 17-01-1917, this DI was built under license at MAG in Hungary. To give an idea of what the pilots had to endure, besides the misery of the war: Suppose it was 10 degrees below zero here on the ground. The temperature drops by about 1 degree per 100 m altitude. So at 2,500 m the temperature was around minus 35 degrees Celsius. The 'windchill' by the airspeed of the aircraft made it feel like minus 50 to minus 60 C for the pilots.
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24

The 04.22 of the Austro-Hungarian army, this DI was built under license by MAG in Hungary.
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25

The 04.22 of the Austro-Hungarian army, this DI was built under license by MAG in Hungary.
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26

From 190/16
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