By:     Norm Goyer

You can roughly divide the escalation of aviation technology by two-decade segments. It all started with the Wright Brothers in 1903, and it almost ended with them as well. Few know that the brothers Wilbur and Orville slapped a patent on their wing-warping device which extended to any controls used to keep the wings level and that included future ailerons. We all know now, that wing-warping was counterproductive in all aspects; it was the invention of the aileron that made safe flight possible. This Wright brothers’ patent slowed down aviation development around the world, except for those who ignored it. Huge court battles raged over these patent infringements until World War I. A dire need for aircraft suddenly appeared, so the aviation manufacturing firms were told to ignore the patent in favor of building the needed aircraft.

Germany, England and France all used very similar rotary engines in most of their aircraft. The one illustrated is a Gnome.

When the “War to End All Wars” started, aircraft were like fragile kites; most were built of wood, some even had wing-warping, such as the German Taube and Eindekker. Aviators shot at each other with pistols and dropped tiny bombs from the cockpit by simply throwing them down at targets. It didn’t take long to figure out that these flying machines were pretty handy tools-of-war and they needed to be improved. When the war finally ended in 1918, the aircraft and engines had indeed improved. The German Fokker D-VII with its six-cylinder, in-line Mercedes engine was by far the most advanced aircraft to come out of the battle. Many were seized as war assets and shipped to the winning countries. The US Army Air Force had a large number of them which they kept in service until the mid-1920s. They even commissioned the Dutch Fokker factory to build them an updated model. Last week we mentioned the Travel Air 4000 which was dubbed the “Wichita Fokker”. This excellent aircraft was indeed built using some of the same techniques as had Fokker’s engineers.

The German Taube was typical of the aircraft with which Germany had entered WWI. The Allies had similar kite-like aircraft.

A special mention must be made of the rotary engine which was developed by England, France and Germany. We’re not quite sure who initiated the design, but they were all pretty much clones of each other. This remarkable engine powered a huge number of aircraft on all sides. The British Sopwith Camel, Pup, Tripe, the French Nieuports, the German Fokker Triplane and many others all used these nine-cylinder engines. A rotary engine has the crankshaft bolted to the firewall, and the prop bolted to the crankcase, so the cylinders and the prop spun around and the crankshaft stayed bolted down. Sounds weird? It was, but it worked and it worked well. The engines were very light and had a great power-to-weight ratio. Their working life was super-short but they were inexpensive to build, and could be changed out in minutes. The unique sound the rotaries made was the result of its lack of a variable throttle. They either were off or they were full throttle. There was some speed/rpm control via a rotary switch on the joystick (control stick) which would shut down certain spark plugs, reducing the power for landing, etc. Thousands of airshow visitors saw and heard these engines when several were transported to Sun ‘n Fun a few years ago where they flew mock combat. These replica aircraft from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Upstate New York had original rotary engines in them. Their sound is unique in aviation history.

Fokker invented the engine-cam-operated-gun-trigger to allow the bullets to pass between the rotating propeller blades. This invention gave the Germans a great advantage for a period of time. Eventually, the Allies copied the mechanism.

Even though the conflict started in 1914, and ended in 1918, huge advancements were made in aviation within those four years. Another example is the unique all-wood thick airfoil wing that Anthony Fokker’s engineers put on the Fokker D-VIII, the “Flying Razor”, another excellent aircraft. This unique parasol-wing fighter did not have a bird’s-nest of wires and struts; it was basically a cantilever (no-struts) wing. The thick airfoil allowed a large, strong spar to run from tip-to-tip, giving the wing unique strength. It was then covered with plywood, then covered again with linen and doped. Germany, in its rush to get this great fighting aircraft into battle, ran into some serious quality-control problems. The glue was not mixed correctly, some shortcuts were taken on the wing construction, and several failed during the brief combat time during the waning days of 1918. This same wing was used on some of the best large Fokker transports and airliners of the era.

This is a replica Fokker D-VII. It was considered the best fighter of WWI.

In 1914, the first aircraft used in the air battles over the Western Front were basically ineffective and crudely built. When the war ended in 1918, only four years later, the aircraft were highly engineered, with powerful aircraft engines and armament that would remain the same for many years to come. War is hell, and war is a tragedy, but it certainly grabbed aviation, chewed it a bit, and spit it out far better than ever.

An original Fokker D-VII sits in a museum. Notice the very large size of the aircraft and its almost modern biplane look.

Next week we will discuss the Cherokee Six series of Piper heavy haulers. The   Bird of the Week will be the Piper Colt, one of the best two-place buys in the current aircraft marketplace.

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