Nederlandse Modelbouw en Luchtvaartsite

Dutch Modelling and Aviation

In Memoriam

Klaas Willem Jonker
(Wilko)
† April 30, 2018

On Monday 30 April 2018, Wilko Jonker died after a long illness at the age of 58. He leaves behind a wife and two children. The Dutch military aviation and plastic modeling were his hobby and on this website he shared all the knowledge he has collected over the years. His hobby has been able to distract him from the persistent disease in his body until the last week of his life. The contacts with other hobbyists were a major support for him.

This website will be maintained by different people for as long as possible, so that other enthusiasts can continue to benefit from extensive content.

Fokker D.VII

In Service with LVA, RNlNAS and NEIAF.

In service with LVA.

The first Fokkers D.VII were interned at the end of the first world war.
The first one was built by Albatros and landed on 15 October, 1918 near Ijzendijke.  It was test flown on November 9, 1918 and entered service with registration F227.

The second and third D.VII, were part of a group of six aircraft that were on their way back to Germany. They made a landing on November 13, 1918 near Stein and  entered Dutch service with registrations F228 and F229, respectively.

These interned Fokkers were not bought and their fate is unknown.

The LVA needed a standard fighter en had contacted Trompenburg in the summer of 1918. Trompenburg was developing the Spijker V.3  fighter. There was a contract for the delivery of 78 V.3 fighters, and 188 V.4 scouts. both to be equipped with the LeClerget 130 hp powerplant. The RNlNAS had ordered 20 V3 fighters to replace the Thulin K. The NEIAF later also ordered for the supply of two V.2 training aircraft, six V.3 fighters and six  V.4 scouts.

Delay in delivery due to problems during the development and construction and the unit was already obsolete.

The V.3 was not until the summer of 1919 ready, but did not even come in performance and was not constructive in order.

At that time Fokker returned to the Netherlands, and succeeded, to take [with the knowledge of the German customs authorities] a large number of aircraft, including 120 and 60 Fokker D.VII Fokker CI , as well as a large amount of materials and means of production.
Wijnmalen, director of Trompenburgstraat and Fokker agreed that Fokker would supply 188 D.VII's and 98 C.I's.

In May 1919, two D.VII and one CI were unexpectedly demonstrated at Soesterberg. The display Spijker  V.3 followed in June 1919, so that a proper comparison of the types could be made.

In October 1919 a new contract was signed with  Trompenburg for the supply of 164 engines, of which 40 Mercedes D.IIIaü,rated 180 hp and further 124 BMW IIIa rated 185 hp  plus 92 Fokkers C.I and 72 Fokkers D.VII.

Later, another contract for the delivery of 20 Fokkers D.VIIF for the RNlNAS followed.

In early November 1919, the aircraft division of Trompenburg was abolished and there was a lot of wrangling about tje compliance of the contracts.
In the end 20 Fokkers D.VII plus 60 Fokkers C.I were delivered to the LVa plus 20 examples to the RNlnAS later another six examples were delivered to the NEIAF.

N87 04 01

Restored Fokker D.VII with serial 266, photographed in 1987 in the Militaire Luchtvaart Museum at Soesterberg.

The first ten aircraft for the LVA were equipped with a Mercedes D.IIIaü motor, the other ten examples had the BMW IIIa.

Homebuilt examples

Quite soon the 255 and 267 were written off due to a crash. In the spring of 1921 the Technical Department of the LVA built a new aircraft from spare parts and parts of these two aircraft and entered service with registration 270 employed.

In 1926 was followed by a second example, which was also built out of spare parts and parts from crashed aircraft and entered service with serial 271.


Weather Flights

From the beginning of Jaen 20 were in favor of the KNMI in The Bilt meteorological flights operated. Almost every day increased a Fokker D.VII, with a meteograph under the wing and climbed to around 6000 level. Between 1920 and 1933, 4195 of such flights made​​.
Modernization.

Initially, the Fokker D.VIIs were equipped with two Spandau machine guns. The Dutch army (and navy) chose in 1922, however, the 7.9 mm Vickers machine gun like standard machine gun, which was designated as Aircraft Machine Gun M.18.

In 1926 twenty BMW IV engines 250 HP were purchased to replace. The now obsolete and worn D.IIIaü Mercedes and BMW IIIa engines [The BMW IIIa was no longer in production; The BMW IV was actually the same engine as the BMW IIIa, but with a larger cylinder volume.

In practice, the new engines turned out to be the BMW IIIa, less reliable, which earned the higher power no significant improvement in performance. In any case, the Fokker D.VII 250, 251, 256 t / m 259, 265 and 271 were equipped with the new engine.

 

In service with RNlNAS (= MLD).

The D.VII's were delivered in 1920. These equipped with BMW IIIa engines, so these aircraft were Fokkers D.VIIF.
In 1925, the RNlNAS bought 25 BMW IV engines to replace the BMW IIIa of the remaining Fokkers D.VII. Except the engines some other modifications were added, such as a retractable radiator, a headrest and another cowling.
In 1930 the Technical services built a new Fokker D.VII from available spare parts. This aircraft was registered D-40.

Ltz1 K.W.F.M. Doorman MWO als vlieger en cdt MVK De Kooy in de eenpersoonsjager Fokker D-VII D-25 tijdens nachtvliegen
Ltz1 K.W.F.M. Doorman MWO, commander of naval air station De Kooy in Fokker D.VII D-25 during a night flight
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Crash   van de Fokker D VII nr D33 op het MVKK. (ovl2 Doorman)
Crash of Fokker D.VII,serial D33 at naval air station De Kooy.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Jachtvliegtuig, eenpersoons jager Fokker D-VII (1920-1937), reg.nr. D-36
Fokker D-VII, serial D-36
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Jachtvliegtuig, eenpersoons jager Fokker D-VII (1920-1937), reg.nr. D-24 (1920-1936), motor BMW IIIa van 185 PK, 1924, van het Jachtescadrille van de MLD
Fokker D-VII, serial D-24 ,with  BMW IIIa rated 185 hp.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Jachtvliegtuig, eenpersoons jager Fokker D-VII met reg.nr. D-30 (1920-1935), van het Gevechtsescadrille MLD/Fokker, motor BMW IIIa 185 PK, met vlieger offvl. P. Vroon
Fokker D-VII serial D-30; engine BMW IIIa 185 hp with pilot offvl. P. Vroon
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Crash   van de Fokker D VII nr D29
Crash of Fokker D VII, serial D29,
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Note the roundels on the wings!
Jachtvliegtuig, eenpersoons jager Fokker D-VII (1920-1937). Vooraanzicht van de gemoderniseerde Fokker D-VII op MVK De Kooy
A modernised Fokker D-VII at naval air station De Kooy
[Ingesloten foto van BeeldBank NIMH. Klik op de foto voor bestel-informatie]
Jachtvliegtuig, eenpersoons jager Fokker D-VII (1920-1937)
Fokker D-VII (1920-1937.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Twee Fokker D.VII's van de Marine Luchtvaartdienst.
Two Fokker D.VII's of the Dutch naval air service.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Onderofficier vlieger W.H. Avenarius (1903-) in een Fokker D-VII eenpersoons jager.
Pilot  W.H. Avenarius  in a Fokker D-VII.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]

 

In Service with ML-KNIL.

The Fokker D-VII entered service in 1922 and was equipped with an Armstrong-Siddeley Puma rated 230 hp.
The main reason for the use of this engine was that the same engine was in use with the DeHavilland DH-9.

The first flight on this configuration was February 25, 1921. The aircraft crashed from a height of about 80 m because of an engine failure. A second test on April 27, 1921 was successful.

The Fokker D.VII was withdrawn from use in 1926, because it was rather disappointing. Many problems occurred with the engine and the synchronisation mechanism.

Fokker D-VII jachtvliegtuigen van de Luchtvaartafdeling van het KNIL (LA/KNIL)
Fokker D-VII of NEIAF (LA/KNIL)
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Fokker D.VII van de LA/KNIL.
Fokker D.VII, F301, note the Puma engine.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Een Fokker D-VII eenpersoons jager van de Luchtvaartafdeling (LA) van het KNIL ca. 1930
Fokker D-VII of NEIAF (LA-KNIL). Note the roundel on the fuselage.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]
Vijf Fokker D.VII's van de LA/KNIL ergens boven Java.
Five Fokker D.VII's of NEIAF (LA/KNIL) flying over Java.
[Enclosed photo from BeeldBank NIMH. Click on photo for ordering information]