By the middle of 1915, Allied and German aircraft were proficient at obtaining strategically important battlefield reconnaissance information. Denying the enemy the ability to secure this information was now of vital importance. The combat introduction of the new Fokker E.III Eindecker fighter over the Western Front saw a new and bloody chapter in aerial warfare, as this advanced fighter took a heavy toll of Allied aircraft. The undoubted technological advances incorporated in the design of the Fokker Eindecker series of armed scouts allowed the German Air Service to secure a period of air superiority over the battlefields of the Western Front. Many of the Allied aircraft designs were still considered as reconnaissance platforms first, with self defence and bombing capabilities of secondary importance. Facing the dedicated fighter aircraft the Germans were now operating put the Allied airmen at a significant disadvantage and as the German pilots developed their fighter tactics, Allied airmen were forced to continue flying in the face of these new dangers and often described themselves as being nothing more than ‘Fokker Fodder'. The introduction of the Nieuport 11 fighter in early 1916 saw an end of the Fokker Scourge, but not before a great many Allied airmen had fallen victim to the synchronized guns of the Fokker Eindecker.
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