Early Fokker Aircraft part 5
It was early in 1917 when the next design from Fokker was released. It was the Fokker D.V which I have already written about in another article. The plane had marginal success and was soon supplanted by the Fokker D.VI. It was close to the time when the nimble iconic Fokker Dr.I triplane would explode onto the scene creating legends and making the skies a much more dangerous place to fly.
The Fokker D.VI was an excellent aircraft that was not to be. It was overshadowed by the success of the Fokker D.VII. The design was a biplane based on a stretched Dr.1 fuselage. Only a hand full were built and entered service.
Fokker Flugzeug-Werke had finally hit their stride and continued produced some of the most successful fighter aircraft during the remainder of the war. Even though there were issues concerning safety and poor craftsmanship, their designs proved that light weight aircraft with tubular steel construction was a better method of building a cost effective agile fighter. The days of heavy plywood construction were numbered.
References
- "Fokker D.VI", From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_D.VI
- Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford. "German Aircraft of the First World War
". London: Putnam, 1962. ISBN 0-93385-271-1
- Taylor, Michael J. H. "Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation
". London: Crescent Books, 1993. ISBN 0-51710-316-8.
- Weyl, A.R. "Fokker: The Creative Years
". London: Putnam, 1965. ISBN 0-85177-817-8.
2 comments:
Lighter would mean faster or more stuff carried.
They were also cheaper and faster to build. So you can get more of them into service. Another thing was training workers the skills needed to build an aircraft. While welding is a skilled profession, woodworkers skilled enough to fabricate curved laminated plywood structures required a longer training period.
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