The Dr.I was designed by Anthony Fokker, Reinhold Platz and Chefingeneur Möser. They shared one feature in common, the use of cantilever wings instead of external wire bracing. This led to significantly lower drag, but it also required stronger internal structures in the wing, reducing the advantage. In order to address this, his V.3 design had used three shorter wings instead of two wider ones, so that the loads on any particular wing were reduced and would require less internal structure. In testing, the wings tended to vibrate, so the design was modified with single struts between the wings at the tips, leading to the V.4.

   During the test's V.4  proved to be something of a disappointment. Although the handling was fairly good due to the low angular momentum of the short wings, several modifications were made to improve it, notably the control feel. The main concern was the speed, however: the added wing made the drag high enough that the puny 110hp Oberursel UR.II engine could not drive it to the speeds of then-current Allied aircraft, and Platz introduced a number of V planes with larger engines in an attempt to address this. Platz later turned back to biplane designs for further developments in the V series.

    In April 1917 the RNAS started flying their Sopwith Triplanes on the front-line in force for the first time. Their debut was sensational, for the first time turning the tables completely on the Germans and proving to be almost untouchable in combat. Soon the German pilots were clamoring for a triplane of their own. The first pre-production examples (F.Is) were ready by the middle of August 1917 and production machines (Dr.Is) were delivered in October of the same year.

    First samples of new fighter (103/17 and 102/17) were shipped to Werner Voss and Manfred von Richthofen on August 28th 1917 at Marcke in Belgium. Soon both were flying them in combat and racking up successes, exploiting the aircraft's unique ability to perform sharp slip-turns, due to the monoblock vertical. Triplane 102/17 was shot down whilst being flown by Kurt Wolff on 15th September, and 103/17 flown by Werner Voss on 23rd September. On the 23rd, Werner Voss, a young 48-victory ace, which was due to go on leave, took off in number 103/17, and met the SE5a's of Number 56 Squadron, in one of the legendary dogfights of the First World War. He single-handedly tangled with at least five British aces of that squadron, including James Mc Cudden (57), Arthur Rhys David’s (25), and R T C Hoige (28). However, many of the other pilots were less impressed with the aircraft, while it had good maneuverability and an impressive rate of climb, the plane was still slower than most contemporary Allied fighters.

    After the series of fatal accidents from the end of October 1917 Triplanes was grounded and withdrawn from operations. Extensive work was done to reinforce the wings but accidents still continue and Fokker Dr. I did not became equipment to many Jagdstaffeln. Production eventually ended in May 1918, by which time only 320 had been manufactured.

    The Fokker Dr 1 was a successful plane because it was small and had 3 wings and a supplementary airfoil on the undercarriage. With its size, weight and three wings, it was able to climb rapidly and easily outclimb almost any opponent. It could turn very quickly as well. The Fokker Dr 1 was a highly maneuverable and very agile plane. It offered good upward visibility and lacked the traditional bracing wires, which was a vulnerable point of many planes in World War One. The bracing wires could easily be shot away in combat. All these characteristics of the Fokker Dr 1 meant that it was a deadly opponent in close air-to-air combat. Several pilots were killed because of this wing problem.