The Fokker F.25 Promotor, first flown in 1946, was a single-engined, twin-boomed, four-seat passenger monoplane with a pusher engine mounted at the rear of a central nacelle. It was of wooden construction and has fitted with a retractable
nosewheel undercarriage. One feature of the design was that instead of a 2 + 2 seating, the pilot sat in front to the left, and all three passengers were on a bench seat to the rear of him. Alternatively, when being used as an
air ambulance
Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...
aircraft, it could carry a patient on a stretcher, which was loaded through a hatch in the aircraft's nose.
[Smith ''Flight'' 5 August 1948, pp. 143–144.] The F.25 was evocative of the pre-war
G.I design.
[''Flight'' 3 October 1946, p. 359.]
During World War II, Frits Diepen, a car dealer, had a twin boom aircraft powered by a Ford V-8 engine designed and built at
Bergen-op-Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
Etymology
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soi ...
. This aircraft emerged postwar as the
Diepen Difoga 421 aircraft, and was flown for the first time in 1946, but proved unsuccessful.
Diepen then contracted Fokker to design and build a new aircraft of similar layout to the Difoga, which became the Fokker F.25 Promotor. Diepen intended to use the Promotor as an air taxi and charter aircraft, placing an order for 100 aircraft, and also negotiated exclusive sales rights to the Promotor. The first example made its maiden flight on 20 October 1946 and later that year was exhibited at the
Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
.
Production was stopped in 1949 after 20 F.25s had been completed. They could not compete in cost against large numbers of surplus military aircraft available at bargain prices following the end of the war, while Fokker required its production capacity to concentrate on the
Fokker S.11 Instructor trainer. Only three of the aircraft were flown.
[Hooks ''Aeroplane'' March 2013, p. 34]
Specifications (Fokker F.25 with O-435-A engine)
References
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Further reading
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External links
dutch-aviation.nl
{{Fokker aircraft
1940s Dutch civil utility aircraft
F 25
Mid-wing aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Twin-boom aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1946