Fokker Spin

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Fokker Spin

Fokker Spin, 3rd version
Type	Expirmental Aircraft
Manufacturer	Fokker
Designed by	Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker
Maiden flight	1910
Number built	25

The Fokker Spin was the first airplane built by Anthony Fokker. The many bracing wires made the plane resemble a giant spider, hence its name Spin (Dutch for "spider").^[1]

Fokker, while studying in Germany, built the Spin in 1910 together with Jacob Goedecker and Franz von Daum, his business partner who procured the engine. The plane started out as an experimental design to provide Fokker a means to explore his interest in flying. While the first Spin was destroyed when von Daum flew it into a tree, the engine was still salvagable and was used in the second version.^[1]

A second version of the Spin was built soon afterwards, in which Fokker taught himself to fly and earned his pilot license. This plane was also irreparably damaged by von Daum.^[2]

Fokker built a third version. In this plane he gained fame in his home country the Netherlands by flying it around the tower of the Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem on August 31, 1911. He further added to his fame by flying on the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina. After this success he founded an aircraft factory and flight school near Berlin. From 1912 to 1913, a total of 25 Fokker Spins were built (including a few two-person variants), used mostly for pilot training.^[3]

One of the last-built Spins was brought by Fokker to the Netherlands after the First World War. It was incomplete and rebuilt in the early 1920s. During the Second World War, the plane was taken to an aviation museum in Berlin as a war trophy by the Germans occupying the Netherlands. After the war it was brought to Poland. Not until 1986 was it returned to the Netherlands where it was restored. A second remaining Spin was built by Fokker personnel in 1936 to commemmorate Anthony Fokker's 25 year flight anniversary. Both of these planes are preserved at the Aviodrome aviation museum, Lelystad Airport, the Netherlands.

[edit] Construction

The fuselage simply consists of two wooden beams with cross members on which the pilot is seated and on which an Argus 4-cylinder water-cooled engine is mounted in the front. The radiators are placed on the side of the fuselage. The wings and tail consist of two steel tubes with bamboo ribs. The landing gear is also constructed of steel tubing. The whole structure is held together with steel wire. Later versions have a more streamlined fuselage.