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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0602.PDF
SEPTEMBER 17, 1925 FIRST THREE-ENGINED FOKKER Latest Development of F. VII Type SINCE the first machine was produced, the Fokker VII typehas been undergoing steady development and has made its appearance with a variety of engines, such as the Rolls-Royce" Eagle," Napier " Lion," and the " Liberty." It was, it will be remembered, on the Napier engine type that MynheerFokker gave a demonstration at Croydon of control at large angles, and on the same machine an altitude which only justmisses being a world's record has been attained, while the "Liberty" engined machine holds the world's durationrecord for useful loads of 1,500 kgs. (3,300 lbs.) and a 1,000 kgs. (2,200 lbs.), with 3 hours 3| mins. instructions to the Amsterdam factory to develop the F.VIIas a three-engined machine. Mr. Fokker cabled all principal dimensions and such special constructional details as wererequired to change the type from a single-engined into a three- engined machine.Mr. Platz, chief draughtsman of the Fokker works, at once took the design and construction in hand, and three Wright"Whirlwind" engines with their propellers bad, in the meantime, been obtained by Mr. Fokker in the States anddespatched to Amsterdam, where they arrived in the beginning of August. At the end of August the machine was ready FIRST THREE-ENGINED FOKKER MONOPLANE : This is a development of the well-known type F.VII. The engines fitted are Wright "Whirlwinds," but if desired Armstrong-Siddeley "Lynx " engines can be substituted. Quite recently the F. VII has appeared in yet another form,i.e., as a three-engined monoplane. This machine has been specially produced for night flying on regular air routes, andwe understand that the first specimen has already been packed and dispatched to the United States Government,for use on the night air mail services. It seems likely that other machines, if this type is accepted by the United StatesGovernment, will be constructed in the American Fokker factory.Before referring to the machine itself, it may not be without interest to give a brief outline of the manner of its cominginto being. In the beginning of July of this year, Mr. Fokker, who was at that time in the United States on business, cabled to leave the factory, and, on September 3, it was dismantledand loaded on barges to be taken to the aerodrome at Schiphol, this being the usual method of transporting new machinesfrom the Fokker factory, which is situated on the Northern bank of the river Ij, to the aerodrome, which is situatedseveral kilometres out of Amsterdam, and on the opposite side of the city. By 9 a.m. on September 4 the parts wereunloaded, and by 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day the monoplane was ready for flight, having had its enginestested and its tanks filled. At 4.30, Mr. Fokker himself took it up for its first test flight, carrying four passengers and someballast. The next day the machine was demonstrated before officials THE THREE-ENGINED FOKKER MONOPLANE IN FLIGHT : The machine is capable of Hying on any two of its engines. 602
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