Fokker F.II
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The Fokker F.II was the first of a long series of commercial aircraft from the Fokker Aircraft Company, flying in 1919. In a biplane age, it presented a distinct clean, high-wing monoplane style that sold successfully across Europe and North America during the development of commercial passenger-carrying aviation.


Design and development

The Fokker F.II was a single engined high-wing cantilever monoplane with a design lineage that went back to designer
Reinhold Platz Reinhold Platz (16 January 1886 – 15 September 1966) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer in service of the Dutch company Fokker. Platz was hired by Fokker in 1912 as a welder. His first hands-on projects were to weld the frame pa ...
's Dr.I triplane, via the biplane D.VII and monoplane D.VIII fighters and his unflown F.I civil design. The Dr.I was the first aircraft Anderson p.309-310 to use the thick high lift/drag airfoils that enabled high climb rates and also allowed internal wing bracing. Hence the triplane wing needed no external wire bracing and its monoplane successors, apart from attachments to the fuselage were simple cantilever structures. The F.II had other characteristic early-Fokker design features: a wing constructed of wood, fully skinned in plywood, with ailerons extending beyond the wingtips and a deep sided square section fuselage of welded steel tube covered in fabric which provided enough directional stability that no vertical fin was fitted. The F.II had a fixed undercarriage, the main units of which were joined by a cross-axle. There was enclosed accommodation for four passengers; a fifth could travel alongside the pilot in his unenclosed cockpit, in a seat originally intended for a mechanic or navigator. The prototype F.II, known by the company designation V.45, was constructed at the Fokker factory in Schwerin, Germany, and made its first flight there in October 1919. When
Anthony Fokker Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker (6 April 1890 – 23 December 1939) was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such ...
decided to relocate the firm to the Netherlands, the V.45 was illegally flown across the border on 20 March 1920. Even after this, perhaps another three examples were built at Schwerin before production shifted to Veere. All F.IIs built by Fokker had the 138 kW (185 hp)
BMW IIIa BMW IIIa was an inline six-cylinder SOHC valvetrain, water-cooled aircraft engine, the first-ever engine produced by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG, who, at the time, were exclusively an aircraft engine manufacturer. Its success laid the foundatio ...
engine. The Dutch airline
KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
, which ordered the first two F.IIs after the prototype, found the BMW IIIa lacked power and had cooling problems. After an experiment with a 133 kW (178 hp) Mercedes motor, KLM re-engined both of their aircraft with the 179 kW (240 hp) Armstrong Siddeley Puma. In Germany, however, the technical manager of ''Deutsche Aero Lloyd'', Karl Grulich, arranged to build the type under licence for the airline, making a few modifications of his own to the design. These included strengthened landing gear, a redesigned cockpit, and redesigned trapezoidal cabin windows. At least 20, the great majority of F.IIs, were assembled by ''Deutsche Aero Lloyd'' at
Staaken Staaken () is a locality at the western rim of Berlin within the borough of Spandau. Geography Staaken borders on the localities of Spandau proper, Falkenhagener Feld and Wilhelmstadt. In the west it shares border with the Brandenburg municipalit ...
, Berlin. They built the fuselages there, but the wings were built by Albatros and were then supplied to the airline for final assembly. These rather heavier aircraft were powered by 172 kW (230 hp) BMW IV (and later 239 kW/320 hp BMW Va) motors.


Operational history

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
operated two F.IIs between 1920 and 1927, which were then sold to SABENA who used them on their Brussels-
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
route. The machines that Fokker had built in Germany were bought by ''
Deutsche Luftreederei Deutsche Luft-Reederei (D.L.R.), was a German airline established in December 1917 which started operating in 1919. History The name means "German (Deutsche) Air (Luft) Shipping Company (Reederei)". D.L.R. was reorganized as Aero Lloyd AG in 1 ...
'' and registered in the
Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
. ''
Deutsche Aero Lloyd Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...
''s aircraft were used right up until the time the airline was absorbed by Deutsche Luft Hansa in 1926, at which point ten machines remained. These were put to use on regional routes linking Cologne with
Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
,
Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
, Krefeld, and Mülheim until 1934.


Operators

; * SABENA ;
Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
*
Deutsche Luft-Reederei Deutsche Luft-Reederei (D.L.R.), was a German airline established in December 1917 which started operating in 1919. History The name means "German (Deutsche) Air (Luft) Shipping Company (Reederei)". D.L.R. was reorganized as Aero Lloyd AG in 1 ...
; *
Deutsche Aero Lloyd Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...
* Deutsche Luft Hansa ; *
KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...


Specifications (Puma powered)


References

*Anderson, J. D. ''A History of Aerodynamics'' (1997). Cambridge University Press. *de Leeuw, R. ''Fokker Commercial Aircraft'' (1994). Fokker Publications * * * * {{Fokker aircraft 1910s German airliners F 02 Aircraft first flown in 1919 High-wing aircraft