The Fokker PW-5 (designated Fokker F VI by Fokker) was a Dutch fighter aircraft of the 1920s. It was a

parasol An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy (building), canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunburn, sunlight. The term ''umbr ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

of which twelve were built for the US Army Air Service, being used as advanced trainers.

Design and development

In 1921, the

US Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

evaluated the

Fokker D.VIII The Fokker E.V was a German parasol-monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The E.V was the last Fokker design to become operational with the ''Luftstreitkräfte,'' entering service in the last mon ...

parasol monoplane, and the D.VII biplane, both fighters handed over to it after the

Armistice with Germany The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

that ended

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It placed an order for two examples of a parasol monoplane fighter based on the design of the D.VIII, but powered by an American-built Hispano-Suiza

V-8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

, for evaluation.Dorr and Donald 1990, p. 27. These aircraft, designated by Fokker as Fokker F VI, had plywood-covered wooden

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

wings similar to those in the D.VIII and the contemporary D.X fighters, and a typical Fokker welded steel-tube fuselage. The forward fuselage was protected by armour plates, although the car-type radiator and the wing-mounted fuel tank had no such protection. The aircraft had a fixed tailskid undercarriage, while it had no fixed fin, having a balanced

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

instead.Weyl 1965, pp. 360–1.

Operational history

In 1921, the two evaluation examples were delivered in 1921, although one of them crashed on 13 March 1922 when its wing failed owing to flutter.Weyl 1965, pp. 360, 362. An order for a further 10 aircraft was placed, and delivered later in 1921, the aircraft being used as advanced trainers by the

1st Pursuit Group First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

Operators

; *

Specifications (PW-5)

Notes

References

* Dorr, Robert F. and David Donald. ''Fighters of the United States Air Force''. London:Temple Press/Aerospace, 1990. . * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York:Smithmark, 1994. . * Weyl, A. R. ''Fokker: The Creative Years''. London:Putnam, 1965.

External links

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{{USAAS fighters 1920s Dutch fighter aircraft PW-05 Aircraft first flown in 1921 High-wing aircraft