As the Wright brothers invented the airplane, the outbreak of World War I made the airplane useful. In the early days of World War I, planes were mainly responsible for reconnaissance of the enemy, or attacking ground artillery and pointing out targets. At that time, even if the soldiers of two warring countries met in the sky, no one could hurt anyone except swearing at each other.

However, I don't know when to start. A pilot used his revolver in the air battle. Although he didn't shoot down anything, it seems to have opened a window for the air forces of various countries, and also opened the prelude to modern air combat.

At that time, there was no concept and technology of electronically controlled machine guns or machine guns. Therefore, in the early air combat of World War I, the pilots were basically mom and dad, operating planes and machine guns.

Because the machine gun at that time had to be placed in front of the cockpit (so that the pilot could shoot at any time), every time in air combat, the pilot would use the machine gun and hit the propeller of his own plane. Although this situation was rare during World War I, it had a very bad influence. Many pilots refused to use machine guns at high altitude, causing some panic.

So, ANTHONY FOKKER, a Dutchman who was serving in the Allied Forces at that time, invented something called "machine gun shooting coordinator", which successfully solved the problem that the plane accidentally injured itself when shooting in the air.

Its principle is very simple, that is, a gear-like device is installed on the propeller, and the three protrusions of the gear are just opposite to the propeller. This gear is connected to a blue metal rod. When the protrusion touches the metal bar, the machine gun launcher connected to the metal bar will be activated and then the bullet will be fired. Generally speaking, the principle of this technology is very simple and does not involve any high-tech electronic components. So it was very popular with pilots after actual combat.

It also attracted the attention of the allies, and other countries soon learned the core secret of this machine gun firing coordinator, so they quickly copied it. It was from this moment that the concept of air combat appeared for the first time in the history of human war, and it was also the first time. The concept of air power and machine gun firing coordinator turned air combat from slogan into reality and opened a new era.

However, no weapon is perfect, and the machine gun firing coordinator also has many shortcomings. The biggest drawback is that it limits the speed of the plane. Because the machine gun coordinator emphasizes the rotation of the axis, its flight speed must be fixed. If it is a little faster or slower, it will cause the bullet to hit the propeller. Therefore, during World War I, air combat was often carried out in a fixed scene. Once the plane needs to accelerate or decelerate, the machine gun firing coordinator will fail and need to be readjusted.

This requires huge personnel and time costs. After the end of World War II, with the appearance of jet fighters, the machine gun shooting coordinator also completed his historical mission. Because jet fighters have no propellers, there is no way to talk about it. The coordinator of propeller and machine gun shooting in air shooting completely withdrew from the historical stage at this time.

Although the machine gun firing coordinator is a low-tech product from a modern point of view, it shows the research and observation of new things by military scientists, which is the key to the great development of fighter planes.