Battles & Wars › World War I › Warplanes (military aircraft)
Fighter aircraft
1915 (Fokker's synchronized machine gun)· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
A fast, agile warplane built to shoot down other aircraft; the type was born in 1915 with a machine gun firing through the propeller.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Early in World War I, airmen fired pistols and rifles at each other. In April 1915 Frenchman Roland Garros fixed steel deflectors to his propeller and shot down several German planes. After he was captured, Anthony Fokker's team gave Germany a gear that timed a machine gun to fire between the spinning blades. Their Eindecker fighters ruled the sky in late 1915. Rival designs, aces such as Manfred von Richthofen and formation tactics followed.
Why it matters
Fighters decide who controls the sky, which protects one side's scouts, bombers and ground troops while blinding the other's. Every air war since has begun with that fight.
How we know
Surviving aircraft and synchronizer gears, patents, squadron records and combat reports, and pilots' memoirs and letters from both sides.
Still debated
Who really invented the synchronizer is disputed: Franz Schneider of the German firm LVG patented one in 1913, and Fokker's engineers, not Fokker himself, built Germany's working gear.
Connections (4)
▸Machine gun (Maxim gun) fired through the propeller of the first Fighter aircraftWell documented
The connection
A plane is easiest to aim by pointing the whole aircraft, but a forward gun would shoot off its own propeller. Germany's answer in 1915 was an interrupter gear that fired a Maxim-type machine gun only when no blade was in the way. Mounted on Fokker's Eindecker, it created the first true fighter and the 'Fokker Scourge.'
When and how
Fokker's works at Schwerin, Germany, spring 1915; first victory by Kurt Wintgens, July 1, 1915; Western Front, late 1915 to early 1916.
How we know
Surviving gears and guns, German patents, and Allied reports of heavy losses to Fokkers in late 1915.
Debates and open questions
How deadly the 'Fokker Scourge' really was is debated: Eindeckers were relatively few, and British press and parliamentary alarm magnified their reputation.
▸Fighter aircraft fought the first battle for air control at Battle of VerdunMostly agreed
The connection
Germany opened Verdun in February 1916 by massing aircraft to blind French artillery observers. General Pétain reportedly told Commandant Charles de Tricornot de Rose to 'sweep the sky' for him. De Rose grouped the best French pilots, flying nimble Nieuports, into hunting squadrons. By spring they had regained control of the air, in the first deliberate fight for air superiority.
When and how
Verdun, northeastern France, February–June 1916; French and German air services, including the American volunteer Lafayette Escadrille from May 1916.
How sure are we?
French and German air service records and pilots' accounts; Pétain's quoted order comes from later memoirs.
Debates and open questions
How much air control mattered at Verdun is debated; it helped French artillery, but the battle was decided on the ground.
▸Fighter aircraft defended the skies in the Battle of BritainWell documented
The connection
In summer 1940 the Luftwaffe tried to destroy Britain's fighter force before an invasion. RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires, guided by radar and a ground control network built by Sir Hugh Dowding, met German bombers and their Messerschmitt escorts. British factories also outbuilt Germany's in fighters. By October Germany had shifted to night bombing of cities and postponed invasion.
When and how
Southern England, July 10 – October 31, 1940; Dowding and Keith Park of Fighter Command against Hermann Göring's Luftwaffe; about 3,000 RAF aircrew, 'the Few.'
How we know
RAF and Luftwaffe loss records, compared after the war; both sides' wartime claims were exaggerated.
Debates and open questions
Whether Germany could ever have invaded is debated; some historians say the Royal Navy, not just the RAF, was the real deterrent.
▸Fighter aircraft was transformed by the Jet engine and the jet fighter (Me 262)Well documented
The connection
From 1915 fighters were propeller planes, and by 1945 the best piston fighters were near their practical speed limit, around 700 km/h. Jet engines broke through it. The Me 262 and Gloster Meteor of 1944 began the change, and by the early 1950s almost all new front-line fighters, such as the MiG-15 and F-86 Sabre, were jets.
When and how
Germany and Britain, 1944; then worldwide, 1945–1955, as air forces replaced their piston fighters.
How we know
Aircraft performance data and air force procurement records show the rapid switch after 1945.
Debates and open questions
How much early postwar jet fighters owed to captured German research, such as swept wings, versus the engine itself is still discussed.