At age 20, while studying in Germany, Anthony Fokker built his initial aircraft, the
Spin
(Spider)?the first Dutch-built plane to fly in his home country. Taking advantage of better opportunities in Germany, he moved to
Berlin
, where in 1912, he founded his first company, Fokker Aeroplanbau, later moving to the Gorries suburb just southwest of
Schwerin
(at
53°36′45.90″N
11°22′31.60″E
? / ?
53.6127500°N 11.3754444°E
? /
53.6127500; 11.3754444
), where the current company was founded, as Fokker Aviatik GmbH, on 12 February 1912.
[1]
Fokker capitalized on having sold several
Fokker Spin
monoplanes to the German government and set up a factory in Germany to supply the
German Army
in
World War I
. His first new design for the Germans to be produced in any numbers was the
Fokker M.5
, which was little more than a copy of the
Morane-Saulnier G
, built with steel tube instead of wood for the fuselage, and with minor alterations to the outline of the rudder and undercarriage and a new aerofoil section.
[2]
When it was realized that arming these scouts with a machine gun firing through the arc of the propeller was desirable, Fokker developed a
synchronization gear
similar to that patented by
Franz Schneider
.
[3]
Fitted with a developed version of this gear, the M.5 became the
Fokker Eindecker
, which due to its revolutionary armament, became one of the most feared aircraft over the western front, its introduction leading to a period of German air superiority known as the
Fokker Scourge
which only ended with the introduction of new aircraft such as the
Nieuport 11
and
Airco DH.2
.
During World War I, Fokker engineers worked on the
Fokker-Leimberger
, an externally powered 12-barrel
Gatling gun
in the 7.92×57mm round claimed to be capable of firing over 7200 rounds per minute.
[4]
Later in the war, after the
Fokker D.V
(the last design by earlier chief designer Martin Kreutzer), had failed to gain acceptance with the
Luftstreitkrafte
the German government forced Fokker (for their aircraft production expertise) and
Junkers
(for their pioneering all-metal airframe construction techniques, and advanced design concepts) to cooperate more closely, which resulted in the foundation of the Junkers-Fokker Aktiengesellschaft, or Jfa, on 20 October 1917. As this partnership proved to be troublesome, it was eventually dissolved. By then, former Fokker welder and new designer
Reinhold Platz
, who had taken the late Martin Kreutzer's place with the firm, had adapted some of Prof. Junkers' design concepts, that resulted in a visual similarity between the aircraft of those two manufacturers during the next decade.
Some of the noteworthy types produced by Fokker during the second half of the war, all designed primarily by Platz, included the
Fokker D.VI
biplane,
Fokker Dr.I
triplane or
Dreidecker
(remembered as a mount of the
Red Baron
),
Fokker D.VII
biplane (the only aircraft ever referred to directly in a treaty: all D.VII's were singled out for handover to the allies in their terms of the
armistice agreement
) and the
Fokker D.VIII
parasol monoplane.
Return to the Netherlands
edit
In 1919, Fokker, owing large sums in back taxes (including 14,250,000
marks
of income tax),
[5]
returned to the Netherlands and founded a new company near
Amsterdam
with the support of Steenkolen Handels Vereniging, now known as
SHV Holdings
. He chose the name Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek (Dutch Aircraft Factory) to conceal the Fokker brand because of his involvement in World War I. Despite the strict disarmament conditions of the
Treaty of Versailles
, Fokker did not return home empty-handed. In 1919, he arranged an export permit and brought six entire trains of parts, and 180 types of aircraft across the Dutch-German border, among them 117 Fokker C.Is, D.VIIs, and D.VIIIs. This initial stock enabled him to set up shop quickly.
[
citation needed
]
After his company's relocation, many Fokker
C.I
and
C.IV
military airplanes were delivered to Russia, Romania, and the still-clandestine German air force. Success came on the commercial market, too, with the development of the
Fokker F.VII
, a high-winged aircraft capable of taking on various types of engines. Fokker continued to design and build military aircraft, delivering planes to the
Royal Netherlands Air Force
. Foreign military customers eventually included Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Hungary, and Italy. These countries bought substantial numbers of the Fokker C.V reconnaissance aircraft, which became Fokker's main success in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
1920s and 30s: Fokker's glory period
edit
In the 1920s, Fokker entered its glory years, becoming the world's largest aircraft manufacturer by the late 1920s.
[
citation needed
]
Its greatest success was the 1925
F.VIIa/3m trimotor
passenger aircraft, which was used by 54
airline companies
worldwide and captured 40% of the American market in 1936. It shared the European market with the Junkers all-metal aircraft, but dominated the American market until the arrival of the
Ford Trimotor
which copied the aerodynamic features of the Fokker F.VII, and Junkers structural concepts.
In 1923, Anthony Fokker moved to the United States, where in 1927, he established an American branch of his company, the
Atlantic Aircraft
Corporation, which was renamed the Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America. In 1930, this company merged with
General Motors Corporation
and the company's name became General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation, which in turn merged with
North American Aviation
and was divested by GM in 1948. In 1931, discontented at being totally subordinate to GM management, Fokker resigned.
A serious blow to Fokker's reputation came after the 1931
crash of a Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10
in Kansas, when it became known that the crash was caused by a structural failure caused by wood rot.
Notre Dame
legendary football coach
Knute Rockne
was among the fatalities, prompting extensive media coverage and technical investigation. As a result, all Fokkers were grounded in the US, along with many other types that had copied Fokker's wings.
In 1934
Nevil Shute
of
Airspeed Ltd
(England) negotiated with Fokker himself for a manufacturing licensing agreement. In January 1935 Airspeed signed an agreement
for the
Douglas DC-2
and a number of Fokker types, with Fokker to be a consultant for seven years. Shute found him "genial, shrewd and helpful" but "already a sick man"; and he was difficult to deal with as "his domestic life was irregular". Airspeed considered making the
Fokker D.XVII
for Greece, as Greece wanted to buy from Britain for currency reasons, but the proposal did not "come off"; Shute recommended reading his novel
Ruined City
on Balkan methods of business. And after a year the drift to war meant that Dutchmen could not go to the Airspeed factory or to board meetings.
[6]
On December 23, 1939, Fokker died in
New York City
after a three-week illness.
At the outset of
World War II
, the few
G.Is
and
D.XXIs
of the Dutch Air Force were able to score a respectable number of victories against the
Luftwaffe
, but many were destroyed on the ground before they could be used.
The Fokker factories were confiscated by the Germans and were used to build
Bucker
Bu 181 Bestmann
trainers and parts for the
Junkers Ju 52
transport. At the end of the war, the factories were completely stripped by the Germans and destroyed by Allied bombing.
Post-World War II rebuilding
edit
Rebuilding after the war proved difficult. The market was flooded with cheap surplus planes from the war. The company cautiously started building
gliders
and autobuses and converting
Dakota
transport planes to civilian versions. A few
F25s
were built. Nevertheless, the
S-11
trainer was a success, being purchased by several air forces. The
S-14 Machtrainer
became one of the first
jet trainers
, and although not an export success, it served for over a decade with the
Royal Netherlands Air Force
.
A new factory was built next to
Schiphol
Airport near Amsterdam in 1951. A number of military planes were built there under license, among them the
Gloster Meteor
twin-jet fighter and
Lockheed
's
F-104 Starfighter
. A second production and maintenance facility was established at
Woensdrecht
.
In 1958, the
F-27
Friendship was introduced, Fokker's most successful postwar airliner. The Dutch government contributed 27 million
guilders
to its development. Powered by the
Rolls-Royce Dart
, it became the world's best-selling
turboprop
airliner, reaching almost 800 units sold by 1986, including 206 under licence by
Fairchild
. Also, a military version of the F-27, the F-27 Troopship, was built.
In 1962, the F-27 was followed by the jet-powered
F-28
Fellowship. Until production stopped in 1987, a total of 241 were built in various versions. Both an F-27 and later an F-28 served with the
Dutch Royal Flight
,
Prince Bernhard
himself being a pilot.
[
citation needed
]
In 1969, Fokker agreed to an alliance with
Bremen
-based
Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke
under control of a transnational holding company. They collaborated on an unsuccessful regional
jetliner
, the
VFW-614
, of which only 19 were sold. This collaboration ended in early 1980.
Fokker was one of the main partners in the
F-16 Fighting Falcon
consortium (European Participating Air Forces), which was responsible for the production of these fighters for the
Belgian
,
Danish
,
Dutch
and
Norwegian
Air Forces. It consisted of companies and government agencies from these four countries and the United States. F-16s were assembled at Fokker and at
SABCA
in Belgium with parts from the five countries involved.
In 1967, Fokker started a modest space division building parts for European
satellites
. A major advance came in 1968 when Fokker developed the first Dutch satellite (the
Astronomical Netherlands Satellite
) together with
Philips
and Dutch universities. This was followed by a second major satellite project,
IRAS
, successfully launched in 1983. The
European Space Agency
in June 1974 named a consortium headed by
ERNO
-
VFW-Fokker GmbH
to build pressurized modules for
Spacelab
.
Subsequently, Fokker contributed to many European satellite projects, as well as to the
Ariane rocket
in its various models. Together with a Russian contractor, they developed the huge parachute system for the
Ariane 5
rocket boosters which would allow the boosters to return to Earth safely and be reused.
The space division became more and more independent, until just before Fokker's bankruptcy in 1996, it became a fully stand-alone corporation, known successively as Fokker Space and Systems, Fokker Space, and Dutch Space. On 1 January 2006, it was taken over by
EADS
-Space Transportation.
Fokker 50, Fokker 100, and Fokker 70
edit
After a brief and unsuccessful collaboration effort with
McDonnell Douglas
in 1981, Fokker began an ambitious project to develop two new aircraft concurrently. The
Fokker 50
was to be a completely modernised version of the
F-27
, and the
Fokker 100
a new airliner based on the
F-28
. Development costs were allowed to spiral out of control, almost forcing Fokker out of business in 1987. The Dutch government bailed the company out with 212 million guilders, but demanded Fokker look for a "strategic partner",
British Aerospace
and
DASA
being named most likely candidates.
Initial sales of the
Fokker 100
were good, leading Fokker to begin development of the
Fokker 70
, a smaller version of the
F100
, in 1991, but sales of the
F70
were below expectations and the F100 had strong competition from
Boeing
and
Airbus
by then. The
Dutch government aircraft
?[
nl
]
between 1996 and 2017 was a Fokker 70.
[7]
In 1992, after a long and arduous negotiation process, Fokker signed an agreement with
DASA
. This did not solve Fokker's problems, though, mostly because DASA's parent company
Daimler-Benz
also had to deal with its own organisational problems.
On 22 January 1996, the board of directors of Daimler-Benz decided to focus on its core automobile business and cut ties with Fokker. The next day, an Amsterdam court extended temporary creditor protection.
Discussions were initiated with
Bombardier
on 5 February 1996. After having reviewed and evaluated the opportunities and challenges Fokker represented at the time, Bombardier renounced its acquisition on 27 February.
[8]
On 15 March, the Fokker company was declared bankrupt.
[9]
Differences in national culture could have played a role in the failed takeover of Fokker by
Deutsche Aerospace
(DASA).
[
specify
]
[10]
Those divisions of the company that manufactured parts and carried out maintenance and repair work were taken over by
Stork N.V.
; it is now known as Stork Aerospace Group. Stork Fokker exists to sustain remarketing of the company's existing aircraft: it refurbishes and resells F 50s and F 100s, and has converted a few F 50s to transport aircraft. Special projects included the development of an F50 maritime patrol variant and an F100 executive jet. For this project, Stork received the 2005 "Aerospace Industry Award" in the Air Transport category from
Flight International
magazine.
Other divisions of the company that were profitable continued as separate companies: Fokker Space (later Dutch Space) and
Fokker Control Systems
.
In November 2009, Stork Aerospace changed its name to Fokker Aerospace Group. As of 2011, the Fokker Aerospace Group changed its name to
Fokker Technologies
. The five individual business units within Fokker Technologies all carry the Fokker name:
- Fokker Aerostructures
- Fokker Landing Gear
- Fokker Elmo
- Fokker Techniek
- Fokker Services
The former Fokker aircraft facilities at Schiphol were redeveloped into the Fokker Logistics Park. One of the former Fokker tenants is Fokker Services.
In 1996, a new company named Rekkof Aircraft ("Fokker" backwards) attempted to restart production of the Fokker F70 and F100, supported by suppliers and airlines. The company was later renamed to Netherlands Aircraft Company, and started to focus on developing a new aircraft named F130NG. This attempt was not successful either, and the project came to a standstill in 2010. In 2023, after years of no updates, the company was renamed
Fokker Next Gen
. Along with the new name reveal, the company announced that they are developing a new
hydrogen-powered
regional airliner
. Visualisations have been provided, but the name of the aircraft is yet not publicly disclosed.
In 2015,
GKN
considers Fokker Technologies as a possible acquisition to supply for the hybrid car market. The British automotive and aerospace supplier plans to buy the Netherlands-based Fokker for €706 million.
[11]
In 2021, Fokker Services and Fokker Techniek are acquired by Panta Holdings, a Dutch investment fund. The acquisition sought to strengthen Panta Holdings’ aerospace footprint.
[12]
Panta Holdings also owns
Fokker Next Gen
.