Fokker K.I

The Fokker K.I, from Kampfflugzeug meaning battleplane, company designation M.9, was a German experimental biplane built during the First World War by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke to meet an Imperial German Air Service need for an aircraft that could defend itself against Entente fighters armed with machine guns. It was Anthony Fokker's first new design since the war began, made with limited resources while the firm was swamped with orders. Because interrupter gear for firing through a propeller was still under development, he devised an unusual three-seat layout, a central nacelle with an engine at each end in push-pull configuration, flanked by booms with gunners at their front. First flown in 1915, the M.9 had two M.7 fuselages and tails mounted on the lower wing and two seven-cylinder 80 hp Oberursel U.0 rotary engines. Limited flight testing revealed problems with the centre of gravity and structural strength that Fokker could not then resolve, and he ordered the K.I scrapped.