How was created the first fighter planes. Photo

A bullet fired from a air gun, shoot through the propeller.

Many men are attracted to military equipment, particularly the formidable fighter planes. But they could not appear, if not the invention of one Dutchman. Further – about an ingenious invention which has made a genuine revolution in aviation and the military.

French Nieuport 17 fighter.

As you know, the first plane took to the air in 1903. It was a machine of the Wright brothers that flew at a low speed less than a minute. In just a decade over Europe circling dozens of military aircraft, made of plywood and canvas, but the story left a lot of names of brave fighter pilots. Their main weapons were machine guns mounted on military vehicles.

German fighter Fokker DR.I, armed with Spandau machine guns.

Practice the first aircraft of the fighting showed that the most convenient way to install a machine gun above the engine of the plane, directly in front of the pilot. Then it can accurately aim and reload and troubleshoot problems in flight. The main problem of this scheme – when shooting is easy to damage the propeller. Before the fighter designers faced a difficult task – how to avoid the bullets hit the propeller. The French proposed to sheathe them with metal, like “booking”. And in Germany puzzled over more sophisticated mechanisms.

Propeller fighter Albatros C. III, damaged by shots from his own gun.

In March 1915, was found simple and effective solution. Dutch aircraft designer Anton Fokker who built planes for the German air force created a special device – synchronizer. The new system was installed on the newest fighter Fokker E. I, which demonstrated significant superiority over the aircraft of the Entente.

German aircraft machine gun MG 08/15 with synchronizer shooting.

The synchronizer mechanism worked as follows. On the motor shaft was raised convex Cam associated with a trigger gun. It is synchronized with the rotation of the screw so that at the time of the shot, the trajectory of the bullet was not closed propeller. Thus, the achieved high rate of fire machine gun, and the propeller remained intact. It was an invention that actually created a real fighter.

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