When they are asked about aeroplanes used by the Germans in the First World War, historians and aviation enthusiasts more than likely think of the Fokker DrI Triplane first. This is due to the association of this aircraft with one man, Rittmeister, the Baron Manfred von Richthofen. Since he was the most famous German airman to emerge from the Great War, it is natural to think immediately of the aeroplane in which he gained his fame and lost his life. In fact, his name had been made long before the Triplane came to the war front, and the legend of the Red Baron, or Red Devil as he was originally known, was firmly established by the summer of 1917.
Moreover, what the professional historian will know and the amateur may not immediately appreciate, is that the Fokker Triplane had a short combat life above the war-torn French countryside, and, in comparison with other fighter types, it was produced only in small numbers. There was a constant struggle to achieve and retain air superiority: for the Allies in their offensive stance and for the Germans in their mainly defensive posture. The race to produce a dominant fighter type had begun with the introduction of the Fokker Eindekker fighters of 1915, especially following the mounting of the machine-gun interrupter gear for these monoplanes. In the hands of such early aces as Boelcke, Immelmann, Wintgens, Parschau, Leffers and the like, these nimble Fokkers dominated the sky over France.
However, numbers were small and this was a key factor in the defensive strategy adopted by the Germans, preferring the 'customers to come into the shop'. The German fighters remained behind their trench system, which by 1915 stretched from the North Sea coast to the Swiss border, and tackled hostile aeroplanes as they flew into their space. This tactic was sound for other reasons. The prevailing wind was behind British, French and Belgian aircraft as they flew into German territory and made it difficult for the pilots once they had to turn for home. For their part, the German pilots could wait for the Allies to approach before taking off, thereby retaining more petrol for combat once engaged, and could choose where and when to attack, or not to attack, depending on advantage of position or numbers. Also, if they or their aircraft were hit, or they found themselves up against an obviously superior pilot, they could fairly easily drop down and land, living to fly and fight another day. An Allied pilot in the same predicament was taken prisoner and out of the war, if he was forced down. In the early days, a sort of chivalry did exist and it was pretty certain that any German airman landing to get out of trouble would survive. But this did not last all that long, and by late 1916 the same German airman had a reasonable chance of being followed down and strafed on the ground. The early chivalry only survived in the pages of the pulp fiction of the 1920s and 30s with heroes like the English airman, Biggles.
The arrival of the de Havilland DH2 and the Nieuport Scouts quickly took the advantage away from the Fokker monoplanes (See my article, 'Hunters of the Air', in Osprey Military Journal 2.2). But this in turn was wrested back with the arrival at the front of the Albatros Scout types, and the formation of the German Jagdstaffel 'hunting units'. Until the autumn of 1916, the Fokkers had only been attached in small numbers to two-seater reconnaissance units to protect their sorties, or, if free to do so, hunt Allied reconnaissance machines over the battle lines. Once Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke's idea of grouping fighters into dedicated units, Jagdstaffeln (or Jastas) had been adopted, the Allied airmen found themselves seriously challenged. By the spring of 1917, as the battle of Arras and other offensives began, the Jasta pilots were deadly keen to exercise their new aeroplanes, new units and new aggressive strategy. Suddenly, after several weeks of wintry weather which had restricted operations, they found the sky full of Allied aeroplanes.
The Royal Flying Corps bore the brunt of this new exuberance; the pilots were still flying circa 1916 machines and were sorely pressed in combat. For the Germans the result was a period like their 'happy time' in World War II. Allied aircraft were shot down in droves and the period became known as 'Bloody April' by the British. However, during that month promised new types began to arrive, notably the SE5 and the Bristol F2b fighter, but neither got off to a really good start. The Bristol was only used offensively in a limited way, and initial losses gave its crews, those that had survived, little to look forward to, while the Germans quickly dismissed it as 'easy meat'. However, they were later to learn that both the SE5 and 'Brisfit' machines could begin to dominate the air war. As the summer of 1917 progressed, the German Jasta system became firmly established and the aces scored heavily and regularly. Baron von Richthofen and his Jasta 11 pilots in their red Albatros Scouts made names for themselves, and other units also inflicted much hurt on the Allied airmen. However, as autumn approached, it became clear that the SE5, Bristol Fighter, Sopwith Triplane and then the Sopwith Camel, was beginning to get the measure of the Albatros.
New German types were being designed continuously, although not all passed the rigorous testing they were put through by experienced front-line pilots. However, one did pass with merit, and this was the Fokker FI Dreidecker. The British Sopwith Triplane had proved a nimble fighting machine and its rate of roll and climb endeared it to its pilots. It was used almost exclusively by the Royal Naval Air Service, although the French Navy did have a few at Dunkirk. Its appearance in France during February 1917 (one example had been in France under test in June 1916) gave German designers the idea of producing their own triplane. The Sopwith was only in frontline service for about seven months but in that time it had proved a good fighting machine, despite only being able to carry a single machine gun (before the development of an interrupter gear that worked for two guns). The Sopwith Camel quite quickly superseded and replaced the Naval triplane, but by this time the German aircraft designers had produced several three-winged types for testing. Anthony Fokker and his team had been out of frontline aircraft design since the Fokker Eindekker had been replaced by the Albatros DII, DIII and DV Scouts; even the early Fokker D-types had not lasted long. However, his two-gun Fokker FI appeared to find favour, especially with the leader of the recently formed Jagdgeschwader (JG) I, Baron von Richthofen. Following his success as Staffelführer of Jasta 11, in June 1917 he had been given command of JG I, consisting of Jastas 4, 6, 10 and 11. This did not mean that he necessarily flew at the head of 40-50 fighters; the JGs (there would eventually be four, including one Marine group) were more an administrative unit, but they did move around as a group, being sent to battle zones where offensives were being planned and needed support, or where an Allied attack had started.
The first two examples of the Fokker FI arrived at Marckebeeke near Courtrai, Belgium, on 21 August 1917, where JGI was based (although Jasta 6 was just up the road at Bisseghem and Jasta 10 was across the road from Jasta 4 and 11, on Marcke airfield). The FIs were numbered 102/17 and 103/17, the '17, denoting the year of manufacture; only later was the FI designation changed to DrI - Dr for Dreidecker. The intention was that von Richthofen and the leader of Jasta 11, Kurt Wolff, would fly 102, while Werner Voss, leader of Jasta 10, would be assigned 103.
At this time von Richthofen had a score of 59 victories. Having spent some days flying and testing the new Triplane, he finally took it out on a combat sortie on 1 September, attacking a British RE8 two-seater near Zonnebeke. One has to feel sorry for the British aircrew, for although the Sopwith Triplane had recently been withdrawn from frontline service, they were either unaware of this, or thought the odd one or two might still be around. In any event, they obviously thought that the approaching three-winger was a Naval chap, either edging too close, or trying to put the wind up them. Only when the fighter opened fire did they realise they had a problem. We do not know what the men thought; the observer was killed, and the pilot badly wounded and taken prisoner. Von Richthofen's own combat report states:'
Flying my Triplane for the first time, I attacked, together with four of my gentlemen, a very boldly flown artillery-reconnaissance aircraft. I approached and fired twenty shots from a distance of 50 metres, whereupon the adversary fell out of control and crashed this side, near Zonnebeke. Apparently the opponent had taken me for an English Triplane, because the observer in the machine stood upright, without making a move for his machine gun.'
While it is not clear exactly what the Baron meant by 'very boldly flown', his belief that the crew thought he was British indicates that very little effort was made to avoid or resist the attack. Easy or not, this kill took von Richtofen's score to 60. Two days later he downed a Sopwith Pup, and as Anthony Fokker had stayed at Marckebeeke, watching and filming things, he, von Richthofen and a few others, drove to the nearby crash-site. Fokker filmed the luckless pilot, Lieutenant Algernon Bird, of 46 Squadron, who had been lucky enough to survive the shoot-down. He also took a number of pictures of the Pup, and von Richthofen recorded some admiration for his recent adversary, as the man had made sure he ran his crippled fighter into a tree to ensure it would not fall into German hands intact. Bird would live on to just a few days short of 40 years, whereas the Baron had less than seven months left.
Despite this apparent good start, September, in reality, brought disasters. Kurt Wolff was killed in a fight with Naval Sopwith Camels on September 13 in the same 102/17, and despite some success with his distinctively marked 103/17, Werner Voss fell in a classic duel with SE5s of 56 Squadron on September 23. Then at the end of October, Heinrich Gontermann, a successful ace with Jasta 15 crashed and died during a test flight and the next day a Jasta 11 pilot was also killed as a result of structural failure. These events put a question mark over the new type, not helped by the loss of another Jasta 11 DrI, shot down by a German pilot who mistook it for a Sopwith!
Yet despite these setbacks, which might have put an end to the whole Fokker Triplane programme, work was carried out to eliminate the structural defects and, no doubt helped by von Richthofen's enthusiasm for the machine, it soon returned to front line service, especially with JGI. By the spring of 1918, von Richthofen was flying the Triplane regularly and scoring victories, while other pilots were also bringing down opponents. The DrI was found to be a good 'dog-fighter', able to turn with incredible speed and in a tight circle. British pilots were warned never to dog-fight a Triplane; it could turn inside them every time, even in a Camel, which, because it too had a rotary engine, was also well-known for its sharp turning circle.
By this time too, several other Jastas had been sent the Triplane,and a number of aces saw action in it. However, as mentioned earlier, the frontline units were not suppliedwith these in anywhere near the number of other types such as the Albatros and Pfalz Scouts. Only a very few Jastas had a near-full complement, and often one would have just twoor three Triplanes, the rest being biplane types. Nevertheless, of the aces who flew them during this brief period, most scored kills, though it is not possible to give totals as they kept a single tally whichever type they were flying. Among them were Paul Bäumer, Karl Bolle and Richard Plange of Jasta 2 (Boelcke); Josef Mai of Jasta 5, Hans Kirschstein and Franz Hamer of Jasta 6; Lothar von Richthofen, the Baron's brother,and Hans Weiss of Jasta 11; Adolf von Tutschek and Hermann Becker of Jasta 12; Hans Pippart of Jasta 13;Hans Werner of Jasta 14; Walter Göttsch and Hans Pippart of Jasta 19; Fritz Loerzer and Otto Essweinof Jasta 26; Hermann Göring and Rudolf Klimke of Jasta 27; Robert von Greim of Jasta 34b; and Heinrich Bongartz of Jasta 36.
Some of Paul Bäumer's combat reports have survived and have been translated by O'Brien Browne. His final two Triplane kills, on the afternoon of 23 March 1918 were recorded thus:
'North of Tilloy at 1545, and north of Beugnâtre at 1615 hours. I took off later than my Staffel because of the defective motor and flew in the direction of Arras. In the haze beneath me I suddenly sighted at 800 metres height an enemy working aeroplane RE. I attacked the RE, coming from out of the sun and placed myself under his tail. The opponent did not give me the chance to shoot at him and attempted to escape in the direction of Arras. I kept staying behind him and shot at him from a short distance. The aeroplane ran smoking with its left wing into the ground and completely smashed up. Then I flew, being heavily shot at by flak, in a south-easterly direction and looked for my Staffel. Over Bapaume I sighted a second RE and attacked it at a height of 1,000 metres. When he saw me, he banked towards me, shooting, upon which I flew under him and placed myself behind him. After a few shots, the opponent fell down burning. I saw the wreckage hit, and still burning, right to the north of Beugnâtre. No other German aircraft participated in this aerial battle.
By far the most prolific scorer, and the man who flew the Triplane longest in combat, was Josef Jacobs, Staffelführer of Jasta 7. He liked the Triplane so much he kept two for his personal use even after his unit was re-equipped with Fokker DVIIs. Both were painted black, with a distinctive north-wind God painted on the fuselage sides. Because the supply of rotary engines had become a problem, Jacobs had a standing arrangement with frontline troops that he would give a generous liquid reward in exchange for any undamaged Allied Clerget or Le Rhône engines they could salvage and get to him. Of his 48 victories, perhaps 30 were scored with the Triplane, far more than von Richthofen's 19 kills with the type, making Jacobs the Fokker DrI's ace of aces. But, of course, popular history remembers only the Red Baron.
by Norman L R Franks
About the author
Norman Franks is one of the world’s leading authorities on World War I fighter aviation, having published some of the seminal works on the subject. He is currently working on a long list of volumes on Great War aces for Osprey’s Aircraft of the Aces series, including Aircraft-of-the-Aces 40: Fokker DrI Aces of World War I, available in August 2001.
Further reading
Franks, N., Aircraft of the Aces 32: Albatros Aces of WW I, Osprey, Oxford 2000
Franks, N., Aircraft of the Aces 32: Nieuport Aces of WW I, Osprey, Oxford 2000
Franks, N,. Bailey, F and Guest, R., Above the Lines, Grub Street, London 1993
Franks, N., Bailey, F. and Duiven, R., The Jasta War Chronology, Grub Street, London 1998
Franks, N. and Giblin, H., Under the Guns of the German Aces, Grub Street, London 1997
O’Connor, N., Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany, Volumes 1–6, Flying Machines Press, 1988–99