The triplane fighter flown by the German pilots is the Fokker DR 1 designed by Dutch aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker. Due to the fact that Manfred Von Richthofen (the Red Barron) and a few other high scoring German aces developed an almost cult-like devotion to the plane, it has always enjoyed a reputation out of all proportion to its actual merits or contribution to the German war effort. In truth only 320 were produced and they were only in front line service from late 1917 to mid 1918. The plane's chief merits were a rapid rate of climb and the ability to make lightning fast turns to the right due to the torque effect of its rotary engine. Highly experienced pilots were able to use this to great advantage in combat but these same characteristics were very dangerous to inexperienced aviators and there were numerous accidents. On the down side the design was plagued with structural problems, chiefly the tendency of the ailerons to separate from the upper wing or the total structural failure of the upper wing during high G maneuvers. These problems were initially attributed to poor quality control at the Fokker plant and that was certainly a factor, but post war testing also revealed that the plane had serious design flaws that caused a dangerously high G loading on the upper wing during air combat maneuvering. Ironically, Fokker's follow on design, the biplane Fokker D7 fighter is widely regarded as the best fighter design of the war and yet it receives considerably less attention than his problematic triplane.

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