Fokker E.IV

Infobox Aircraft
name = E.IV
type = Fighter
manufacturer = Fokker

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caption = Fokker E.IV.
designer = Anthony Fokker
first flight = September 1915
introduced = October 1915
retired =
status =
primary user = Imperial German Army Air Service
more users =
produced = 1915-1916
number built = 49
unit cost =
variants with their own articles = E.I - E.II - E.IIIThe Fokker E.IV was the final variant of the Fokker Eindecker fighter aircraft that was operated by Germany during the First World War.

Design and development

Given the Fokker designation of M.15, the E.IV was essentially a lengthened Fokker E.III powered by the 160 hp Oberursel U.III two-row, 14-cylinder rotary engine, a copy of the Gnome Double Lamba. The more powerful engine was intended to enable the Eindecker to carry two or three machine guns, thereby increasing its firepower and providing redundancy if one gun jammed — a common occurrence at the time. However, the E.IV was a troubled design that never achieved the success of its predecessor and was soon out-classed by French and British fighters.Fact|date=November 2007

The prototype E.IV was accepted for testing by the German "Inspektion der Fliegertruppen" in September 1915. It was fitted with three forward-firing Spandau LMG 08 machine guns, mounted to fire upwards at 15 degrees. Anthony Fokker demonstrated the E.IV at Essen but the complicated triple-synchronisation gear failed and the propeller was damaged. The third gun was removed and a simpler double-synchronisation system used which became the standard armament for production E.IVs and indeed for all subsequent German D-type biplane fighters. The angling of the guns was also abandoned.

Operational history

The modified prototype underwent combat evaluation on the Western Front by "Oberleutnant" Otto Parschau in October 1915, making it the first twin-gun fighter in service. Leading German ace Oswald Boelcke evaluated the E.IV at Fokker's Schwerin factory in November. The pilots discovered that mounting the much heavier Oberursel U.III onto the Eindecker airframe did not produce a better aircraft — one pilot described it as "practically a flying engine". The inertial and gyroscopic forces of the spinning mass made the E.IV less manoeuvrable than the E.III and any loss of efficiency from the notoriously unreliable engine made the aircraft virtually uncontrollable, requiring the engine to be switched off. Turning under such conditions was exceedingly difficult because the E.IV still used wing warping instead of ailerons. Furthermore, the engine worked well when new, but lost power after only a few hours of operation.

Only 49 E.IVs were built out of the total Eindecker production run of 416 aircraft. Over half of the E.IVs entered service in June 1916 and the last were delivered in December 1916 by which time they were obsolete.

Operators

;flag|German Empire
*"Luftstreitkräfte" operated 48 aircraft.
*"Kaiserliche Marine" received one aircraft.

pecifications (E.IV)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=
crew=one, pilot
capacity=
payload main=
payload alt=
length main= 7.5 m
length alt= 24 ft 7 in
span main= 10 m
span alt= 32 ft 9½ in
height main= 2.7 m
height alt= 9 ft 1 in
area main= 15.9 m²
area alt= 172.2 ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 466 kg
empty weight alt= 1,027 lb
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main= 724 kg
max takeoff weight alt= 1,596 lb
more general=
engine (prop)= Oberursel U.III
type of prop=14-cylinder two-row air-cooled rotary engine
number of props=1
power main= 160 hp
power alt= 119.3 kW
power original=
max speed main=170 km/h
max speed alt= 105 mph
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
range main= 240 km
range alt= 149 mi
ceiling main= 3,960 m
ceiling alt= 13,000 ft
climb rate main= 250 m/min
climb rate alt= 820 ft/min
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
* 2 × forward-firing Spandau LMG 08 machine guns
avionics=

References

ee also

aircontent
related=
Fokker E.III
similar aircraft=
lists=
List of military aircraft of Germany -
see also=