Transport aircraft family by Fokker
The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence.
Design and development
A C-2 of the United States Army
The F.VII was designed as a single-engined transport aircraft by Walter Rethel. Five examples of this model were built for the Dutch airline KLM. One of these aircraft, registered H-NACC, was used in 1924 for the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies. In 1925, while living in the US, Anthony Fokker heard of the inaugural Ford Reliability Tour, which was proposed as a competition for transport aircraft. Fokker had the company's head designer, Reinhold Platz, convert a single-engined F.VIIa airliner to a trimotor configuration, powered by 200 hp Wright Whirlwind radial engines. The resulting aircraft was designated the Fokker F.VIIa/3m. Following shipment to the US, it won the Ford Reliability Tour in late 1925. The Trimotor's structure consisted of a fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage and a plywood-skinned wooden wing.[1]
The Fokker F.VIIb/3m had a slightly increased wing area over the F.VIIa/3m, with power increased to 220 hp per engine, while the F.10 was slightly enlarged, carrying 12 passengers in an enclosed cabin. The aircraft became popularly known as the Fokker Trimotor.[2]
Operational history
The eight- to 12-passenger Fokker was the aircraft of choice for many early airlines, both in Europe and the Americas, and it dominated the American market in the late 1920s. However, the popularity of the Fokker quickly waned after the 1931 crash of a Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F.10, which resulted in the death of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. The investigation revealed problems with the Fokker's plywood-laminate construction, resulting in a temporary ban from commercial flights, more stringent maintenance requirements, and a shift to all-metal aircraft such as the similar Ford Trimotor and later Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2.[3]
Pioneers and explorers
The F.VII was used by many explorers and aviation pioneers, including:
- Richard E. Byrd claimed to have flown over the North Pole in the Fokker F.VIIa/3m Josephine Ford (N267) on 9 May 1926, a few days before Roald Amundsen accomplished the feat in the airship Norge.[4]
- Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger, two lieutenants of the United States Army Air Corps, made the first transpacific flight from the continental United States to Hawaii (c. 2,400 mi/3,862 km) in the Atlantic-Fokker C-2 Bird of Paradise on 28–29 June 1927.[4]
- Richard E. Byrd, Bernt Balchen and two others flew the first official transatlantic airmail in the civilian-owned C-2 America (NX206), crash-landing off the coast of France on 1 July 1927.[5][6]
- Lieutenant Colonel 'Dan' Minchin, Captain Leslie Hamilton and Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg attempted on 31 August 1927 to become the first aviators to cross the Atlantic from east to west using a Fokker F.VIIa named St. Raphael (G-EBTQ). Their fate remains unknown.[7]
- James DeWitt Hill and Lloyd W. Bertaud made a failed attempt to fly from Old Orchard Beach, Maine, to Rome in the F.VIIa Old Glory (NX703) on 6 September 1927, but they and the aircraft were lost in the North Atlantic the following day.[8]
- Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's F.VIIb/3m Southern Cross was the first aircraft to cross the Pacific from the United States to Australia in June 1928, and the first to cross the Tasman Sea, flying from Australia to New Zealand and back in September of that year.[9]
- Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic on 17 June 1928, as a passenger aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m Friendship (NX4204).[4]
- A group of U. S. Army Air Corps flyers, led by then-Major Carl Spaatz, set an endurance record of over 150 hours with the Question Mark, a Fokker C-2A over Los Angeles on 1 to 7 January 1929. The purpose of this mission was to set a flight endurance record using aerial refueling.[10]
Specifications (F.VIIb/3m)
Fokker F.VII/3m 3-view drawing from NACA Aircraft Circular No.74
Data from European Transport Aircraft since 1909[26]
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Capacity: 8 passengers
- Length: 14.50 m (47 ft 7 in)
- Wingspan: 21.71 m (71 ft 3 in)
- Wing area: 67.6 m2 (728 sq ft)
- Airfoil: root: Goettingen 386 (20%); tip: Goettingen 388 (11.3%)[27]
- Empty weight: 3,100 kg (6,834 lb)
- Gross weight: 5,300 kg (11,684 lb)
- Powerplant: 3 × Wright J-6 Whirlwind 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 220 kW (300 hp) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 210 km/h (130 mph, 110 kn)
- Cruise speed: 178 km/h (111 mph, 96 kn)
- Range: 1,200 km (750 mi, 650 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 4,400 m (14,400 ft)
- Takeoff and landing runs: 225 m (738 ft)
