‘The true Kampfflugzeug [combat aeroplane] originated first with the utilisation of Fokker’s invention, which made it possible to fire [a machine gun] through the propeller arc. The fixed [forward-firing] machine gun was now operated by the pilot himself. The removal of the observer produced in this new [single-seat] E-type aeroplane extraordinary speed, manoeuvrability and climbing ability; these attributes identified the dedicated combat aeroplane. In the hands of a determined pilot, the Fokker Eindeckers very soon became the real fear of our enemies.’⁵

Fokker’s ‘invention’ – actually, a refinement of existing technology – was the interrupter gear. His engineers developed a push-rod gear that interrupted the gun’s firing sequence when the propeller blade was in front of the gun’s muzzle.⁶ Interrupter gears were so effective that they were also applied to pilots’ stations in new two-seaters.

The synchronised machine gun added to the allure of combat in the skies. Göring noted later: ‘When the Fokker single-seat fighters arrived at frontline [units], I requested permission to become a pilot. [And] on 1 July 1915, I reported to the [Aviatik] flying school in Freiburg.’⁷ Loerzer also temporarily departed from FFA 25 at this time, to receive fighter aircraft training at Fokker’s flying school in the town of Görries in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – also beginning on Thursday, 1 July.⁸