Anthony Fokker
Anthony Fokker was a notable aviation pioneer and the founder of the Fokker aircraft company, renowned for producing some of the most esteemed German warplanes during World War I, including the Fokker Dr.I triplane and the Fokker D.VII, which are often regarded as exceptional fighter aircraft of that era. After the war, Fokker relocated to the Netherlands, where he shifted his focus to manufacturing commercial aircraft, leveraging his engineering expertise and emphasizing his Dutch heritage. Throughout the 1920s, he gained significant recognition for his innovative designs, such as the F.VIIa-3m trimotor, and his aircraft played crucial roles in landmark flights, including Richard Byrd's Arctic expedition and Amelia Earhart's transatlantic journey.
Fokker's airplanes became synonymous with early commercial aviation, with many airlines around the world employing his wooden-constructed models by the end of the decade. However, despite his initial successes, Fokker's failure to invest in new technologies and adapt to changing engineering practices led to a decline in his company's reputation and operations in the early 1930s. The tragic crash of a Fokker F.10A in 1931 further tarnished the brand's image. Despite these challenges, Fokker contributed to the evolution of aviation by facilitating the sale of American aircraft to European markets, helping to shape the global aviation landscape of the time.
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Anthony Fokker
- Born: April 6, 1890
- Birthplace: Kediri, Java, Netherlands East Indies
- Died: December 23, 1939
- Place of death: New York, New York
Identification: Dutch aviation pioneer
After producing the most highly regarded German warplanes of World War I, Fokker, named for founder Anthony Fokker, became the best-known name in airplane production during the 1920s.
In 1915, by perfecting the interrupter gear—a mechanism that allowed pilots to fire machine guns through the moving arc of a propeller—the largely self-educated Anthony H. G. Fokker provided Germany with a weapon to which the Allies, for a time, had no reply. By the war’s end, Fokker had produced the Fokker Dr.I triplane and the Fokker D.VII, often cited as the war’s best fighter. With no postwar future in German aviation, Fokker escaped to the Netherlands in 1919.
Determined to emphasize his Dutch roots rather than his German connections, Fokker began manufacturing transports, first seating four passengers and then more. All featured a thick, plywood-covered, high cantilever single wing and a fabric-covered, welded steel fuselage. Fokker traveled to the United States between 1920 and 1923, intent on stimulating interest in his aircraft and establishing his first American operation in 1924. Well-publicized flights, such as the first nonstop U.S. transcontinental flight, which was made in a Fokker F.IV transport (designated the T-2 in the United States) in May 1923, achieved great acclaim. In 1925, Fokker’s new F.VIIa-3m trimotor dominated Henry Ford’s first Reliability Tour, an event designed to encourage commercial aviation, and orders for his aircraft increased. Over the next few years, other firsts—among them Richard Byrd’s 1926 arctic expedition, the first successful flight from California to Hawaii in 1927, and Amelia Earhart’s 1928 transatlantic flight—were all accomplished in Fokker aircraft.
In the second half of the 1920s, Fokker proved the reliability of his airplanes and their use for scheduled air transport with a proven design and method of manufacture. He did not, however, invest in new research and development, which, when done by others, surpassed his achievements. The crash of a Fokker F.10A in Kansas on March 31, 1931, which killed all aboard, including Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, damaged the Fokker reputation, and the company’s slowness to adopt new technologies and more scientific engineering sent Fokker’s American facilities into decline.
Impact
Within a very few years, Fokker’s airplanes became synonymous with aviation as it moved into the commercial sphere. In the 1920s, most civilian aircraft with wooden construction were Fokker models; by 1930, fifty-four airline companies around the world were using Fokker planes. Despite being surpassed by new technologies in the early 1930s, Fokker went on to help establish the primacy of American aviation by selling Douglas and Lockheed aircraft to European customers.
Bibliography
Dierikx, Marc. Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997.
Fokker, Anthony H. G., and Bruce Gould. Flying Dutchman: The Life of Anthony Fokker. New York: Arno Press, 1972.
Zupp, Owen. “The ‘Old Bus’ Endures: Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith’s Famous Fokker Southern Cross Has Pride of Place in Brisbane.” Aviation History 20, no. 3 (January, 2010): 16–17.