 {| |}  the fokker e.iii was the main variant of the eindecker (monoplane) fighter aircraft of world war i. it entered service on the western front in december 1915 and was also supplied to austria-hungary and turkey. ==design and development== the e.iii was basically an e.ii fitted with larger, newly designed wings that had a slightly narrower chord of 1.80 meter (70-7/8 in), compared to 1.88 meter (74&nbsp;in) on the earlier eindeckers, going back to fokker's original m.5 monoplane aircraft. the e.iii retained the same 75&nbsp;kw (100&nbsp;hp) oberursel u.i engine, and therefore also used the larger diameter "horseshoe" pattern cowling that also mandated the inclusion of the e.ii's soffit-like extensions to the sides of the upper nose sheet metalwork, but had a larger 81&nbsp;l (21.5&nbsp;gal) drum-shaped main fuel tank just behind the cockpit, which increased the eindeckers endurance to about 2Â½ hours; an hour more than the e.ii. most e.iiis were armed with a single 7.92&nbsp;mm (.312&nbsp;in) spandau lmg 08 machine gun with 500 rounds of ammunition; however, after the failure of the twin-gun fokker e.iv as a viable successor, some e.iiis were fitted with twin guns. fokker production figures state that 249 e.iiis were manufactured; however, a number of the 49 e.iis were upgraded to e.iii standard when they were returned to fokker's schwerin factory for repairs. ==operational history== the e.iii was the first type to arrive in sufficient numbers to form small specialist fighter units, kampfeinsitzer kommandos (kek) in early 1916. previously, eindeckers had been allocated singly, just as the e.i and e.ii had been, to the front-line feldflieger abteilungen that carried out reconnaissance duties. on 10 august 1916, the first german jagdstaffeln (single-seat fighter squadrons) were formed, initially equipped with various early fighter types, including a few e.iiis, which were by then outmoded and being replaced by more modern fighters. standardisation in the jagdstaffeln (and any real success) had to wait for the availab
Fokker_aircraft German_fighter_aircraft_1910a1919 Military_aircraft_of_World_War_I Monoplanes Single-engined_tractor_aircraft