The Fokker Eindecker was a series of monoplane single seat fighters
designed by Anthony Fokker. Developed in 1915 the Eindecker was the first
purpose built German fighter to be fitted with a forward firing machine gun
that could fire thru the propeller without striking the blades. There were 4
variants of the Eindecker, our 2 new aircraft are the final production E 1V
version which received a 119 kW Oberusel U.111, 14 cylinder twin rotary
engine, twin machine guns and a more aerodynamic style hood at the rear of
the cockpit.
WOW047 is the machine flown by Ace Kurt Student who was a 6 victory ace
during WW1. Student was born in 1890 and hoped to become a doctor but his
family could not afford the education, they therefore sent him to military
school at age 11! Student graduated in 1911 and became a Lieutenant in the
army, in 1913 he requested a transfer to become a pilot.
Initially posted to the Russian front, Student was eventually transferred in
1916 to the Western front and scored 6 aerial victories before the war
ended.
Student became director of Air Technical Training Schools during the
interwar period and was instrumental in the creation of the Luftwaffe. He
became very interested in parachute warfare and visited several Soviet
paratrooper schools before setting up the Luftwaffe parachute school at
Stendal in 1936.
Some would argue that the high point of Students career was the airborne
assault on the Belgian fort at Eben Emael, where less than 100 paratroops
captured a garrison of over 650 Belgian soldiers for minimal loss to
themselves, he was awarded the Knights Cross for this action.
Briefly imprisoned after the war, Student was released in 1948 and died
peacefully in 1988 in Lemgo West Germany.
Comes free with GW60 (Sentry figure with Bergmann available in January) and
is priced at $425 for a limited edition run of 10 aircraft.