Thanks to the 'Red Baron', the Fokker Dr.I is probably the best known aircraft of WWI. It was a response to the Sopwith Triplane that was the most maneuverable plane in the sky when it first appeared. It infected the German Air Ministry with 'triplane fever' so a tender was placed to develop one. The winning aircraft was the Fokker Dr.I.

That aircraft has reached a status that totally exceeds the technical capabilities of the real aircraft. A few facts might be in order here. First of all, Fokker had a reputation for somewhat shoddy workmanship. The Dr.I was prone to shedding upper wings or at least the fabric on them. This fabric was nailed in place instead of being sewn on. Fixing it improved things quite a bit, but not before several pilots died. Secondly, the aircraft was quite maneuverable, but only at low altitude. Third is that its Oberusel rotary engine was not reliable, much due to the use of synthetic castor oil, and tended to overheat quite easily. Finally, it was not a mount for the beginner. Only experienced pilots; and by that I mean very experienced aces, were able to get the most out of this aircraft. Just about every British and French aircraft was faster than the Dr.I so required a lot of pilot skill to not only get into a dogfight, but to get out of one as well.

Kagero's book is the first in their Legends of Aviation in 3D series. It opens with a superb history of the type and information on not only its development, but its use in combat. This is all enhanced by superb period photos of the aircraft and those who flew it. There is a great camouflage section as well, describing the application of the famous 'streaky' finish many of these planes carried.

It also is full of excellent multi-view artist renderings of the aircraft. Each page past the history section has large computer art illustrations of not only the overall airframe, but the components in that airframe from the fuel system to the various engines it used. These are also shown in greater detail as the book goes on. These illustrations are just superb and have to be seen to really appreciate just how well done they are. In with these are multi-views of various ace's aircraft that show all of the details. The final section of the book includes true 3D images that require a set of 3D glasses to view. This includes cut away images and detail sections. The glasses are included in the book. The effect is really quite striking.

In all, it makes for an outstanding package that I can highly recommend to the Fokker Dr.I fan or general aviation enthusiast wanting a great book.

January 2012

Review book courtesy of the fine folks at Kagero. Visit them for more books.

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