had the second-highest Eindecker score. He achieved all of his 15 victories in the type before being killed when his E.III broke up in June 1916, possibly after the synchronisation mechanism failed during an attack on British F.E.2bs, causing at least 7 bullets to shoot through one propeller blade, which subsequently broke off. This likely resulted in vibrations so severe that the loads exceeded the structural limits of the aircraft. (Allied accounts credit Corporal J. H. Waller, gunner/observer of a RFC F.E.2b piloted by 2nd Lt G. R. McCubbin, with firing the fatal shots at Immelmann during his attack on their aircraft and was credited by the British with shooting him down.) Eleven pilots scored five or more victories in the Eindecker. Boelcke, Immelmann, Parschau, Hans Berr, and Wintgens all received Germany's highest military decoration, the Pour le Mérite or "Blue Max", while flying the Eindecker, after each pilot passed the then-required eight victory total for each aviator. The arrival in early 1916 of the French Nieuport 11 and the British Airco DH.2 pusher aircraft brought the dominance of the Eindecker to an end, and with it, the "Fokker Scourge". Wintgens flew the E.IV version of the Eindecker long enough to have been confronted by the much more advanced SPAD S.VII fighter of French flying ace Alfred Heurteaux on 25 September 1916, which resulted in Heurteaux fatally bringing down Wintgens, as Huerteaux's victory number eight. Variants Fokker M.5 Fokker's first monoplane unarmed scout, in effect the "airframe prototype" of all the early Fokker Eindeckers. Fokker M.5K K for Kurz - short span wings Fokker M.5L L for Lange - long span wings Fokker M.5K/MG Pre-production batch, with /MG suffix for maschinengewehr - machine gun, five built (see A.III above). Fokker A.II Military designation for the M.5L unarmed scouting aircraft with three bracing cables per wing and powered by an 80hp Oberursel U.0 rotary engine; at least one was built. Fokker A.III Military designation for the M.5K unarmed scouting aircraft powered by an 80hp Oberursel U.0 rotary engine; 5 built (see M.5K/MG). Fokker E.I Production armed scout aircraft powered by an 80hp Oberursel U.0 rotary engine, 68 built Fokker E.II Improved production armed scout aircraft powered by a 100hp Oberursel U.I rotary engine, 49 built Fokker E.III The major production variant also powered by a 100hp Oberursel U.I rotary engine with improved structure and equipment, 249 built Fokker E.IV The final