Fokker F.VII

(originally single-engined)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_F.VII

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.

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.

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.


Role
Passenger & military transport

Manufacturer
Fokker

First flight
24 November 1924

Introduction
1925

Status
Retired

Primary users
SABENA
KLM
Polish Air Force
Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT

Produced
1925-1932

Developed from
Fokker F.V

Variants
Fokker F.10

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, 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.

Specifications (F.VIIb/3m)

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Capacity: 8 passengers
Length: 14.6 m (47 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 21.7 m (71 ft 2 in)
Height: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)
Airfoil: root: Goettingen 386 (20%) ; tip: Goettingen 388 (11.3%)
Empty weight: 6,725 kg (14,826 lb)
Gross weight: 11,570 kg (25,507 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Wright J-5 Whirlwind 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine,
164 kW (220 hp)
Propellers: 2 or 3-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance
Cruise speed: 170 km/h (110 mph, 92 kn)




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