Fokker F.VIII

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F.VIII
Type Airliner
Manufacturer Fokker
Designed by Reinhold Platz
Maiden flight 12 March 1927
Primary users KLM
British Airways
Swedish Air Force
Finnish Air Force
Number built 13
Developed from Fokker F.VII

The Fokker F.VIII (or F.8) was a large twin-engined airliner designed and produced by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker in the 1920s.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1926, Dutch airline KLM issued a request for a larger capacity aircraft than the F.VII or F.VIIa they were currently operating. In response, designer Reinhold Platz began work on the F.VIII in 1926.

The aircraft made its maiden flight on 12 March 1927. The aircraft featured mixed construction, the fuselage and the tail section being made out of welded steel tubes covered with veneer, canvas and dural, and the wooden wing was covered with veneer. It was powered by two Bristol Jupiter radial engines.

Only ten F.VIII aircraft were constructed. Of these, six or seven went to KLM, who accepted delivery of the first 24 June 1927. The Hungarian company Malert seems to have bought one aircraft and two or three were built under licence at the WM factory using Gnome-Rhône Jupiter 9A engines. In 1936, two of the KLM aircraft were sold to British Airways, and in 1937 KLM's PH-AED was sold to Venezuela. In 1939 one of KLM's Fokker F.VIII's (PH-AEG) was transferred via the airline ABA to the Swedish Air Force. This aircraft first carried the civil identification code SE-AEB and later the Swedish Air Force designation code 916. The aircraft was called Tp 10 in Swedish service and it was equipped with a Pratt & Whitney Wasp D1 T1 engine. Another of KLM's aircraft also found its way to Sweden and was registerd with the code SE-AHA.

In July 1927 Fokker converted one aircraft into an amphibian bomber, equipped with an machine gun in the front section. This aircraft was given the designation F.VIII-W, but it failed to receive orders and no other aircraft were converted.

[edit] Finnish service

The Finnish Air Force's sole Fokker F.VIII was built at the N.V. Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriken factory in Amsterdam in 1928, and carried the registration code H-NAEL and the production number of 5076. KLM had used this aircraft in regular passenger service with the registration PH-AEI; in 1937 it was sold to British Airways, where it was registered G-AEPU and transported passengers across the English Channel. The Swedish company G.A. Flygrender purchased the aircraft in 1939, and it was ferried to Sweden via a Amsterdam-Copenhagen-Torslanda route on 7 April 1939. While it was in Sweden the aircraft was mainly flown in the Gothenburg area.

During the Winter War the Swedish organization Nationella Samlingen organized a national fundraising drive for Finland. From the money obtained, they purchased the above mentioned F.VIII from G.A. Flygrederi for 73,500 Swedish kronor. The aircraft carried the registration SE-AHA and it was equipped with Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, which were unique to this aircraft. The F.VIII was flown to Finland on 11 November 1940, carrying the Finnish civil registration OH-FOA. In the Finnish Air Force it was given the code FE-1, but due to the bad condition of its wings it had to be repaired. On 4 August, 1941, the aircraft was transferred to LeLv 46. It was mainly used for the transport of wounded soldiers from the island of Lunkula. Only ten flights took place before the aircraft was destroyed on 27 September 1941 due to an engine failure caused by air in the fuel system. The crew escaped unharmed despite crash-landing in the woods, and were transporting at least one seriously injured passenger.

[edit] Variants

  • F.VIII - Main production version, also known as F.8, 12-13 built
  • F.VIII-W - floater-equipped bomber aircraft, also known as F.8-W, one F.VIII was rebuilt into this version

[edit] Operators

[edit] Civil

[edit] Military

[edit] Specifications (F.VIII)

General characteristics

Performance

[edit] Sources

[edit] Related content

Comparable aircraft

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