Fokker F.VII

F.VII

Swissair Fokker F.VIIb-3 m (CH-192) piloted by Walter Mittelholzer in Kassala (Sudan), February 1934.
Role	Passenger & military transport
Manufacturer	Fokker
First flight	24 November 1924
Introduction	1925
Primary users	SABENA KLM Polish Air Force Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT
Produced	1925-1932
Developed from	Fokker F.V
Variants	Fokker F.10

The Josephine Ford at The Henry Ford.

The Southern Cross in 1943.

Fokker V.VIIb 3-m (CH-190) operated by Ad Astra Aero

Fokker F.VII at Tjililitan airfield, Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia)

A C-2 of the United States Army

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

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 planes, 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.VII A airliner (a 1924 Walter Rethel design) to a trimotor configuration, powered by 200 hp Wright Whirlwind radial engines. The resulting aircraft was designated the Fokker F.VII A/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.VII B/3M had a slightly increased wing area over the A/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 Fokker F.10 TWA Flight 599, which resulted in the death of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. The investigation revealed problems with the Fokker's plywood-laminate construction, resulted 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 on 9 May 1926, a few days before Roald Amundsen accomplished the feat in the airship Norge.^[4]
Two lieutenants of the United States Army Air Corps, Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger, 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]
Also on 29 June 1927, 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.^[5]
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 the St. Raphael. Their fate remains unknown.
James DeWitt Hill and Lloyd W. Bertaud made a failed attempt to fly from New York to Rome in F.VIIa Old Glory when they and the aircraft were lost in the North Atlantic 7 September 1927.
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.^[6]
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.^[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.^[7]

Variants

F.VII: Single-engined transport aircraft, powered by a 360 hp (268.5 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle piston engine, accommodation for two crew and six passengers; five built.
F.VIIa (F.VIIa/1m): Single-engined transport aircraft, slightly larger than F.VII with new undercarriage and wing. Flown on 12 March 1925. First aircraft had 420 hp (310 kW) V-12 Packard Liberty engine but remaining 39 F.VIIa had mostly radial Bristol Jupiter or Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines.
F.VIIa/3m: Version with two additional underwing engines, flown on 4 September 1925. The first two aircraft were identical to the F.VIIa. From the third aircraft, the fuselage was 31 in (80 cm) longer and was powered by 200 hp (149 kW) Wright J-4 Whirlwind radial engines. Probably only 18 were built while many F.VIIa were upgraded to the F.VIIa/3m standard.

First two Fokker F.VIIa were converted into three-engined transport aircraft.

F.VIIb/3m: Main production version with greater span; 154 built including built under licence.
F.9: American built version of the Fokker F.VIIBb/3m; built by the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in the United States.
Fokker F.10: Enlarged version of the Fokker F.VII airliner, able to carry up to 12 passengers; built by the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in the United States.
C-2: Military transport version of the Fokker F.9, powered by three 220 hp (164 kW) Wright J-5 radial piston engines, accommodation for two pilots and ten passengers; three built in 1926 for the US Army Air Corps.
C-2A: Military transport version for the US Army Air Corps, with greater wingspan, powered by three 220 hp (164 kW) Wright J-5 radial piston engines, accommodation for two pilots and ten passengers; eight built in 1928.
XC-7: One C-2A fitted with three 330 hp (246 kW) Wright J-6-9 radial piston engines. Redesignated C-7 when four C-2A examples were similarly reconfigured.
C-7: Military transport conversion of C-2A for the US Army Air Corps by re-engining with 300 hp (220 kW) Wright R-975 engines. XC-7 prototype and four C-2As redesignated in 1931.
C-7A: Six new production C-7 (Wright R-975) aircraft with larger wings, new vertical fin design, and fuselages patterned after the commercial F.10A.
XLB-2: Experimental light bomber version of the C-7, powered by three 410 hp (306 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1380 radial piston engines; one built.
TA-1: Military transport version of the US Navy and Marine Corps; three built.
TA-2: Military transport version for the US Navy; three built.
TA-3: Military transport version for the US Navy, powered by three Wright J-6 radial piston engines; one built.
RA-1: Redesignation of the TA-1.
RA-2: Redesignation of the TA-2.
RA-3: Redesignation of the TA-3.

Licensed copies

SABCA, 29 aircraft built.
Avia, 18 aircraft built.
Three aircraft built in Italy as the IMAM Ro.10, powered by 3x215hp Alfa Romeo Lynx engines. 3 built for operation by Avio Linee Italiane and Ala Littoria.
Plage i Laśkiewicz. Between 1929 and 1930 11 passenger and 20 domestically developed (by Jerzy Rudlicki) bomber aircraft.
Three aircraft built in Spain.
Avro, 14 aircraft known as Avro 618 Ten.
Atlantic Aircraft Corporation

Operators

Civilian operators

Belgium

SABENA operated 28 aircraft.

Denmark

Det Danske Luftfartselskab operated three F.VIIa aircraft.

France

CIDNA operated seven F.VIIa aircraft.
STAR operated one F.VIIa aircraft.

Italy

Hungary

Malert operated two F.VIIa aircraft.

Netherlands

KLM received all five F.VII aircraft and 15 F.VIIas.

Poland

Aero operated six F.VIIa aircraft for a short period in 1928. Since 1 January 1929, all aircraft were handed over to PLL LOT airline.
Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT operated six F.VIIas and 13 F.VIIb/3ms between 1929 and 1939.

Portugal

Aero Portuguesa operated one F.VIIb-3m aircraft.

Spain

CLASSA
LAPE

Switzerland

Ad Astra Aero at least one F.VIIb-3m
Swissair operated one F.VIIa and eight F.VIIb-3m aircraft.

United States

American Airways, which later became American Airlines.
TWA
Pan Am operated F.VIIb/3ms aircraft.

Military operators

Belgium

Belgian Air Force

Belgian Congo

Force Publique

Independent State of Croatia

Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovak Air Force

Finland

Finnish Air Force operated one F.VIIa.

France

French Air Force - 5 F.VIIa/3m and 2 F.VII/3m aircraft, impressed into military service in 1939/1940.

Kingdom of Hungary

Royal Hungarian Air Force

Italy

Regia Aeronautica

Netherlands

Royal Netherlands Air Force received three bomber F.VIIa/3m aircraft.

Poland

Polish Air Force operated 21 F.VIIb/3m (20 of them were licence-built) aircraft as bombers and transports between 1929 and 1939.
- 1 Pułk Lotniczy
  - 211 Eskadra Bombowa
  - 212 Eskadra Bombowa
  - 213 Eskadra Bombowa

Spanish Republic

Spanish Republican Air Force, operated four aircraft in the squadron of the Sahara and other two in Madrid.

United States

United States Army Air Corps designations include Atlantic-Fokker C-2, C-5 and C-7.^[8]
United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, originally designated TA then RA^[9]

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Yugoslav Royal Air Force

Accidents and incidents

On June 21, 1926, a KLM F.VII (H-NACL) force-landed at Seabrook Beach, Sandgate near Hythe, Kent, due to fuel exhaustion caused by pilot error; all five on board survived, but the aircraft was written off.
On July 9, 1926, a KLM F.VII (H-NACC) struck ground in fog at Wolvertem, Belgium, killing both pilots.
At 9:44pm on 31 August 1927 the oil tanker SS Josiah Macy reported the last known sighting of the F.VIIa St. Raphael on a trans-atlantic attempt from Upavon, England to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, piloted by Leslie Hamilton and Frederick F. Minchin, with Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg as passenger.
On 7 September 1927, Old Glory disappeared with Lloyd W. Bertaud and J. D. Hill at the controls of an attempted transatlantic flight from Old Orchard Beach, Maine to Rome, Italy. The flight's last known location was in the North Atlantic, 960 km East of Cape Race, Newfoundland.
On September 17, 1927, a Reynolds Airways F.VII (C776) crashed at Dunellen, New Jersey due to loss of control following engine failure, killing seven of 12 on board. The aircraft was formerly operated by KLM and had been imported to the United States.
On July 4, 1928, Alfred Lowenstein disappeared during a flight over the English Channel in unknown circumstances.
On August 15, 1928, a Pan Am F.VIIa/3m (NC53, General Machado) ditched in the Gulf of Mexico off Egmont Key, Florida.
On September 11, 1930, a Sabena F.VII (OO-AIN) crashed on climbout from Croydon Airport due to an in-flight fire, killing both pilots.
On December 6, 1931, a KLM F.VIIb/3m (PH-AFO) crashed at Bangkok after failing to take off, killing five of seven on board.
On April 3, 1940, a BOAC Avro 618 Ten (G-AASP, Hercules) crashed on takeoff from Cairo; there were no casualties, but the aircraft was written off.
On May 10, 1940, a KLM F.VII (PH-ACJ) was destroyed on the ground at Schiphol Airport by the Luftwaffe during the German invasion of the Netherlands.

Specifications

Fokker F.VIIb/3m; Atlantic-Fokker C-2A

Data from ^[10]

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Capacity: 8 passengers
Length: 47 ft 11 in (14.60 m)
Wingspan: 71 ft 2 in (21.70 m)
Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.90 m)
Empty weight: 6,725 lb (3,050 kg)
Loaded weight: 11,570 lb (5,200 kg)
Powerplant: 3 × Wright J-5 Whirlwind radial engines, 220 hp (164 kW) each

Performance

Cruise speed: 92 kn (170 km/h)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fokker F.VII.

Notes

↑ Thurston, David B. (2000). The World's Most Significant and Magnificent Aircraft: Evolution of the Modern Airplane. SAE. pp. 127–128. ISBN 978-0-7680-0537-0.
↑ "Fokker F-VII." Aeronautics Learning Laboratory. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
↑ Mola, Roger. "CAA investigation of Flight 599." centennialofflight.net, 2003. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
1 2 3 Baaker, Leo. "Famous Fokker Flights." tiscali.nl.Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
↑ "The Trans-Atlantic Flight of the 'America'." check-six.com, 19 October 2010. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
↑ Naughton, Russell. "The Pioneers - Charles Kingsford Smith." monash.edu.au. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
↑ "Question Mark." USAF Historical Studies Office. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
↑ Baugher, Joe. "Cargo Aircraft Designations." US transports, 11 August 2007. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.
↑ Painter, K.M. "Help From The Skies." Popular Mechanics, November 1929.
↑ "Fokker." Aero Favourites. Retrieved: 20 December 2010.

Bibliography

Bowers, Peter and Ernest McDowell. Triplanes: A Pictorial History of the World's Triplanes and Multiplanes. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbooks International, 1993. ISBN 0-87938-614-2.
Dierikx, Marc. Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. ISBN 1-56098-735-9.
Molson, K.M. Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport. Winnipeg: James Richardson & Sons, Ltd., 1974. ISBN 0-919212-39-5.
Nevin, David. The Pathfinders (The Epic of Flight Series). Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980. ISBN 0-8094-3256-0.
Postma, Thijs. Fokker: Aircraft Builders to the World. London: Jane's, 1979. ISBN 0-7106-0059-3.
Weyl, A.R. Fokker: The Creative Years. London: Putnam, 1965.

United States military transport aircraft designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems
Army/Air Force sequence (1925-1962)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7 C-8 C-9 C-10 C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16 C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20 C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 C-28 C-29 C-30 C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34 C-35 C-36 C-37 C-38 C-39 C-40 C-41/A C-42 C-43 C-44 C-45 C-46 C-47/T C-48 C-49 C-50 C-51 C-52 C-53 C-54 C-55 C-56 C-57 C-58 C-59 C-60 C-61 C-62 C-63 C-64 C-65 C-66 C-67 C-68 C-69 C-70/A/B/C/D C-71 C-72 C-73 C-74 C-75 C-76 C-77/B-D C-78 C-79 C-80 C-81 C-82 C-83 C-84 C-85 C-86 C-87 C-88 C-89 C-90 C-91 C-92 C-93 C-94 C-95 C-96 C-97/KC-97 C-98 C-99 C-100 C-101 C-102 C-103 C-104 C-105 C-106 C-107 C-108 C-109 C-110 C-111 C-112 C-113 C-114 C-115 C-116 C-117 C-118 C-119 C-120 C-121/F C-122 C-123/A C-124 C-125 C-126 C-127 (I) C-127 (II) C-128 C-129 C-130/J C-131 C-132 C-133 C-134 C-135/KC-135 C-136 C-137 C-138¹ C-139¹ C-140 C-141 C-142
Tri-service sequence (1962-present)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7/B C-8 C-9 C-10 C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16¹ C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20A-D/F-H C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27/J C-28 C-29 C-30¹ C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34¹ C-35 C-36 C-37A/B C-38 C-39¹ C-40 C-41 C-42¹ C-43¹ C-44¹ C-45 C-46
Revived original sequence (2005-present)	C-143 C-144 C-145 C-146
Non-sequential designations	C-767 C-880
¹ Not assigned See also: AC-47 • AC-119 • AC-130 • DC-130 • EC-130 • HC-130 • KC-130 • LC-130 • MC-130 • WC-130 • CT-39 • CT-43

USN/USMC transport designations 1931–1962
Atlantic Aircraft	RA
Budd	RB
Curtiss	RC R2C⁴ R3C⁴ R4C R5C
Douglas	RD R2D R3D R4D R5D R6D
Bellanca	RE
Kinner	RK
Kreider-Reisner	RK² R2K
Martin	RM
Lockheed	RO R2O R3O R4O R5O R6O R7O-1/-2 to "V" (see below, at "Lockheed")
Stinson	RQ R2Q² R3Q
Fairchild	RQ R2Q R3Q² R4Q
Ford	RR
Sikorsky	RS
Northrop	RT
Lockheed	from "O" (see above, at "Lockheed") R6V R7V-1/-2 R8V
Convair	RY R2Y R3Y R4Y
¹ Not assigned ² Assigned to a different manufacturer's type ³ Sequence restarted ⁴ Assigned to a different class of aircraft

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