Fokker E . I The Fokker E . I was the first fighter aircraft to enter service with the German Air Service in World War I . Its arrival at the front in mid - 1915 marked the start of a period known as the " Fokker Scourge " during which the E . I and its " Eindecker " successors achieved a measure of air superiority over the Western Front . Design and development . The E . I was essentially an armed version of the Fokker M . 5K single - seat reconnaissance aircraft ( military designation A . III ) , which was in turn very closely based on the design of the 1913 French Morane - Saulnier Type H . Like the Morane , the Fokker was an externally braced mid - winged monoplane with a vertically tapered box section fuselage , with fully movable horizontal and vertical stabilizing surfaces , also known as " flying " surfaces , giving the pilot the usual tail control functions ; roll control was achieved through controlled wing warping , as was conventional in contemporary monoplanes . Wing warping was achieved through external cables attached to the surface and running through a king post located in the front of the cockpit . The fuselage structure was fabric covered welded steel tubing , the biggest difference between the Fokker and the Morane , which had an entirely wooden framework . Welded steel tube provided the basis for the structure of all Fokker fuselages for many years . This unremarkable and derivative design was , however , transformed into a formidable fighter when it was fitted with the newly developed synchronizer gear , the Fokker " Stangensteuerung " , firing a single 7 . 92 mm ( . 312 in ) Parabellum LMG 14 or Spandau lMG 08 machine gun through the spinning propeller . Indeed the five production prototype airframes for the E . I design had been ordered and were under construction as A . IIIs but were completed as M . 5K / MG aircraft , retaining the earlier " shoulder - wing " placement of the A . III type . Subsequent production E . Is had their wings lowered slightly – as " Leutnant " Otto Parschau ' s " E . 1 / 15 " had later in its career during 1915 – from the M . 5 ' s shoulder configuration , which improved pilot visibility . ( These were designated by Fokker as the M . 14 , which was also used for the following two " Eindecker " variants . ) All Fokker E . I aircraft had a 68 . 5 l ( 18 . 1 US gal ) capacity , single gravity fuel tank , located forward of the cockpit , with a fuel gauge protruding from the sheet metal upper nose paneling , usually offset slightly to port . Operational history . Two German pilots , " Leutnants " Otto Parschau and Kurt Wintgens , worked closely with Anthony Fokker in early 1915 during evaluation of the M . 5K / MG . Wintgens is known to have downed a two - seat Morane - Saulnier Type L parasol monoplane on 1 July 1915 while flying his M . 5K / MG , but as the victory occurred in the airspace behind Allied lines , over the " Fôret de Parroy " woods near Luneville , this could not be confirmed at the time . A similar victory over another Morane " Parasol " two - seater , again unconfirmed , was scored by Wintgens three days later . On the 15th , Wintgens scored his first confirmed victory over a third Morane Parasol , the earliest known confirmed aerial victory for anyone flying a Fokker E - series monoplane in combat . The M . 5K / MG usually used the Parabellum MG14 machine gun for the synchronized armament , which could prove to be a troublesome arrangement , and the five M . 5K / MGs built by the Fokker factory in Schwerin / Gorries retained the " shoulder - wing " position of the M . 5k for the monoplane wing . Parschau ' s E . 1 / 15 later had its wing lowered to the " mid - wing " position of the production E . Is , while the remaining four were not known to have been changed . Oswald Boelcke , future German aerial tactician , was issued the third production M . 5K / MG , which he flew during July 1915 with Feldflieger Abteiling 62 , based near Douai and shared flying time with Max Immelmann After Boelcke achieved his own first aerial victory on July 4 with an Albatros C . I armed two - seat observation aircraft , Boelcke would score his first single - seater victory with E . 3 / 15 , over a B . E . 2c British two - seater near Arras on 19 August 1915 . Immelmann would shortly thereafter receive his own E . I , serialed E . 13 / 15 for his own use . E . Is were mainly flown by regular pilots of the " Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches " , with one Eindecker attached to each six - aircraft Feldflieger Abteilung aerial observation / reconnaissance unit . The " Fliegertruppen " forces were renamed the " Luftstreitkräfte " in October 1916 , with both units directly serving the German Army ; the formation of specialised " Jasta s " ( fighter squadrons ) in the German air service was still to come . Two were supplied to the Austro - Hungarian air force and five to the " Kaiserliche Marine " in April 1916 . The E . I was soon joined by the improved Fokker E . II and , as the first E . Is were entering service in June 1915 , the first of the E . II type was being demonstrated by Anthony Fokker . Nevertheless E . I production continued in parallel with the E . II , depending on the availability of the Oberursel engines . By 1916 , a total of 54 had been manufactured and delivered to the German Army , Navy and the Austro - Hungarian army .