Fokker E.III - The legendary Fokker Eindecker, armed with a machine gun synchronized to fire through the propeller, made its 1st kill on the 1st day of August 1915. It was a 80hp Oberursel U.0 (license built 80hp Gnome) powered Fokker E.1 flown by Max Immelmann and marked the beginning of the “Fokker scourge”. A 100hp Oberursel U.1 (license built 100hp Gnome Monosoupape) powered version, the E.II, was developed concurrently with the E.1 while the E.III (externally identical to late production E.IIs) followed in August 1915. From about October updated E.IIIs started appearing with internal ammunition storage and a wing mounted compass as seen in this model of Fokker E.III 635/15. The arrival of the French Neiuport 11 and British DH.2 in January-February 1916 marked the beginning of the end of the “Fokker scourge” with these two highly maneuverable aircraft effectively rendering the wing warping German monoplanes obsolete.
DH.2 - The prototype AMC DH.2 (Aircraft Manufacturing Company de Havilland 2) first flew in June 1915 and was sent to the front for evaluation in late July where it was promptly captured by the Germans in early August. Undeterred by this not insignificant setback, development continued and full scale production began in November. This allowed 24 Sqn to be fully equipped with the DH.2 when they arrived in France during early February 1916 where they, along with squadrons equipped with the FE.2b and French Neiuport 11, began putting an end to the 6 month long “Fokker scourge”. Although powered by essentially the same engine as the Fokker E.II & E.III the DH.2 was designed from the outset with maneuverability in mind and the wing warping Eindeckers proved no match in combat. It would take until July-August 1916 before the twin lMG 08 ‘Spandau’ armed Halberstadt, Fokker and Albatros D type biplanes would regain air supremacy for the Germans. As with most early aircraft designs many improvements and changes were made to the DH.2 in the field as well as during production and 7851 features many of these details.