Fokker M.6

The Fokker M.6 was a German two-seat experimental monoplane derived from the M.5, built for the Imperial German Army's Air Service by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke in 1914, shortly before the First World War began. The Air Service had realized that single-seat reconnaissance aircraft were hampered by the pilot's need to fly and observe at once, and its Inspectorate of Flying Troops suggested a permanent seat for an observer. Anthony Fokker slightly lengthened the M.5 to put an observer in the rear seat, although the elongated cockpit was cramped, with the rear wing spar passing between the two seats, and he deleted the fabric covering the wing root and raised the leading edge by 40 centimetres to improve downward visibility. It kept the M.5's 59 kW Oberursel U.0 rotary engine. The M.6 first flew in June 1914 and proved underpowered, and the wing changes did not improve visibility as much as hoped. It crashed fatally after a few test flights, only one was built and development was not continued.