The Fokker D.I (company designation M.18) was a development of the D.II fighter. The D.I was also flown in Austro-Hungarian service as a fighter trainer aircraft under the designation B.III. Confusing the matter further, both the D.II and D.I arrived at the Front in German service at similar times, in July–August 1916. The main designer was Martin Kreutzer.

Design and development

Similar to the D.II, the D.I was an unstaggered single-bay, or ''Einstielig'' equal-span biplane. The upper fuselage was initially parallel with the upper wing and was fitted with the Mercedes D.I six-cylinder water-cooled engine. Control was achieved using

wing-warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft or kite. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposit ...

. The wings were also tested in twin-bay ''(Zweistielig)'' form. To improve visibility, the center section was cut back and the wings were slightly staggered and the top wing raised slightly. These improvements were retained, and the airplane was ordered into production with an

Mercedes D.II The Mercedes D.II was a six-cylinder, SOHC valvetrain liquid-cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler during the early stages of World War I. Producing about 110 to 120 hp, it was at the low-end of the power range of contemporary en ...

inline engine and a single synchronized 7.92 mm (.312 in)

lMG 08 The MG 08 ( 08) is a heavy machine gun (HMG) which served as the standard HMG of the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was an adaptation of Hiram Maxim's 1884 Maxim gun design, and was produced in a number of variants during the war. Th ...

machine gun. The Austro-Hungarian B.IIIs, serialled 04.11 to 04.27, retained the Mercedes D.I engine, and some were armed with a free-firing Schwarzlose MG M.07/12 machine gun mounted above the centre-section.

Operational history

Deliveries began in July 1916 and 90 D.I fighters were delivered to the German ''Fliegertruppen'' and 17 B.III fighter trainers to the Austro-Hungarian '' ''Luftfahrttruppen'''', eight of which were license-built by the

Magyar Általános Gépgyár Magyar may refer to: * Hungarians * Hungarian language * Magyar tribes, fundamental political units of Hungarians between the period of leaving the Ural Mountains and the entrance of the Carpathian Basin * Magyar (surname), a common Hungarian ethn ...

(MAG) in Hungary. One Austro-Hungarian B III was experimentally fitted with a

Mercedes D.III The Mercedes D.III, or F1466 as it was known internally, was a six-cylinder SOHC valvetrain liquid-cooled inline aircraft engine built by Daimler and used on a wide variety of German aircraft during World War I. The initial versions were introd ...

engine. Another had ailerons instead of wing warping, and still another had long span, swept back wings. Compared with aircraft in service at that time, such as the

Albatros D.II The Albatros D.II was a German fighter aircraft used during World War I. After a successful combat career in the early '' Jagdstaffeln'', it was gradually superseded by the Albatros D.III. Design and development Albatros designers Robert Thel ...

and the

Nieuport 11 The Nieuport 11 (or Nieuport XI C.1 in contemporary sources), nicknamed the ''Bébé'', is a French World War I single seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft, designed by Gustave Delage. It was the primary aircraft that ended the Fokker Scourge in 1 ...

, this Fokker's design and performance were decidedly unimpressive, and further production did not take place. The D.I was the basis for the

Fokker D.IV The Fokker D.IV was a biplane fighter designed by the Fokker Aircraft Company () during the First World War for the Imperial German Army's () Imperial German Air Service (). It was a development of the D.I with a more powerful engine and armam ...

Operators

Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops The Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops or Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops ( or , ) were the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the empire's dissolution in 1918; it saw combat on both the Eastern Front and Italian Front dur ...

;: ''

Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Combat Forces)known before October 1916 as (The Imperial German Air Service, lit. "The flying troops of the German Kaiser’s Reich")was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-langu ...

'' ; *

Ottoman Air Force The Aviation Squadrons of the Ottoman Empire were military aviation units of the Ottoman Army and Navy.Edward J. Erickson, ''Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'', "Appendix D The Ottoman Aviation Inspectorate ...

Design and development

Operational history

Operators

Specifications (D.I)

See also

References

Further reading