Fokker E.IV

The Fokker E.IV was the final variant of the Eindecker fighter operated by Germany in World War I. Given the Fokker designation M.15, it was essentially a lengthened E.III powered by the 119 kW Oberursel U.III two-row, 14-cylinder rotary engine, a copy of the Gnome Double Lambda, which was meant to let it carry two or three 7.92 mm machine guns. The heavier engine made the aircraft much less manoeuvrable than the E.III, and the engine lost power after only a few hours of use. Only 49 E.IVs were built out of a total Eindecker production run of 416, and over half entered service in June 1916, when they were already obsolete. Production E.IVs standardised the fitting of twin synchronized machine guns.