FOKKER D.II "BLACK & WHITE TAIL" - 1916

Description

In 1915, Fokker E.I, E.II and E.III monoplanes ruled skies over the Western Front. But their supremacy did not last long, they got obsolete quite soon afterwards and stood no chance against new biplane fighter aeroplanes of the Allies which possessed much better performance. German designers were thus forced to try and find a suitable replacement type quickly. Martin Kreutzer, a Fokker’s designer, came with several varieties of a biplane fighter design designated as the M.17, one of which later reached production status and was known as the Fokker D.II. It was armed with one synchronized machine gun and the first machines of a total of 181 produced got to the front in the summer of 1916 and went on fighting until August 1917. However, beginning with very late 1916, they became to be employed on less exposed sections of the front or just to defend industrial centers against bombing raids of the Allies. (Scale : 1/32e)