Anthony Fokker
Encyclopedia
Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker (6 April 1890 – 23 December 1939) was a Dutch aviation
pioneer and an aircraft manufacturer. He is most famous for the fighter aircraft he produced in Germany during the First World War such as the Eindecker monoplanes, the Fokker Triplane the and the Fokker D.VII
, but after the collapse of Germany Fokker moved his business to the Netherlands
and his company were responsible for a variety of successful aircraft including the Fokker trimotor, a successful passenger aircraft of the inter-war years. He died in America in 1939.
(then Dutch East Indies
, now Indonesia
), to Herman Fokker, a Dutch coffee plantation
owner. Some sources say that he was born in Kediri
. At that time, Blitar was a part of the 'Kediri Residency', a colonial administrative division the capital of which was in Kediri. When Fokker was four
the family returned to the Netherlands
and settled in Haarlem
in order to provide Fokker and his older sister, Toos, with a Dutch upbringing.
Fokker was not a studious boy and did not complete his high school education but he showed an early interest in mechanics, and preferred making things, playing with model trains and steam engines.and experimenting with model aeroplane designs.
He devoted considerable effort to the development of a wheel that would not suffer from punctures, basically a wheel with a perimeter formed by a series of metal plates, This idea had been experimented with elsewhere and was already patented.
to receive training as an automobile mechanic
at Bingen Technical school, but his interest was in flying, so he transferred to the Erste deutsche Automobole-Fachschule in Mainz. That same year Fokker built his first aircraft "de Spin
" ("the Spider"), which was destroyed by his business partner who flew it into a tree. He gained his pilot license in his second "Spin" aircraft. In his own country, he became a celebrity by flying around the tower of the Sint-Bavokerk
in Haarlem
on 31 August 1911, with the third version of the "Spin". He also added to his fame by flying on the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina
.
In 1912, Fokker moved to Johannisthal near Berlin
where he founded his first own company, Fokker Aeroplanbau. In the following years he constructed a variety of airplanes. He relocated his factory to Schwerin
where it was renamed Fokker Flugzeugwerke GmbH, and later shortened to Fokker Werke GmbH.
the German government took control of the factory. Fokker remained as director and designed many aircraft for the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte
), including the Fokker Eindecker
and the Fokker Dr.I
, the triplane made famous in the hands of aces such as Manfred von Richthofen
(the Red Baron). In all, his company delivered about 700 military planes to the German air force.
Fokker himself was a skilled pilot, demonstrating his aircraft on many occasions. On 13 June 1915, Fokker demonstrated the new Eindecker at Stenay
in the German 5th Army Sector in front of the German Crown Prince and other VIPs
. Fokker worked closely with an accomplished military pilot, Otto Parschau
, to bring the Eindecker into military use and on this occasion both men demonstrated the aircraft. Max Immelmann
, later to come become a high-scoring Flying Ace
with the Eindecker, commented in a letter written shortly after this event on 25 June 1915 that:
"Fokker, especially, amazed us with his skill". The Kaiserlich Aero Club Membership List for 1918, lists Hackstetter, Karl, Regierungsbaumeister a.D., Direktor der Fokker-Werke, Schwerin i. M., Friedrich-Franz-Str. 90.
which enabled World War I
aircraft to fire through the spinning propeller
. His role was certainly significant but there were a number of prior developments before the result was achieved for which Fokker is commonly credited.
The famous French
pilot, Roland Garros, was shot down on 18 April 1915. His aircraft had been fitted with a deflector device, whereby metal deflector wedges were fitted to the airscrew. Garros was able to set fire to the airframe before being taken prisoner but the aircraft's gun and the armoured propeller remained intact and came into German
hands.
This initiated a phase of consideration of the interrupter gear concept in the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte
). Fokker was heavily involved in this process but the story of his conception, development and installation of a synchronisation device in a period of 48 hours (first found in an authorised biography of Fokker written in 1929) has been shown to be not factual. The available evidence points to a synchronisation device having been in development with Fokker's company for perhaps six months prior to the capture of Garros' machine.
However the final result of the development was Fokker's pushrod control mechanism, Gestängesteuerung, which allowed the aircraft's forward-firing machine gun
to fire only when the propeller was out of the line of fire. As incorporated into the famous Fokker Eindecker its use directly led to a phase of German air-superiority known as the Fokker Scourge
.
forbade Germany to build any aircraft or aircraft engine
s. In 1919 Fokker returned to the Netherlands and started a new aircraft company, the Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek (Dutch Aircraft Factory), predecessor to the Fokker Aircraft Company
. Despite the strict disarmament conditions in the Treaty, Fokker did not return home empty-handed: he managed to smuggle an entire train's worth of D.VII
and C.I
military planes and spare parts across the German-Dutch border. This initial stock enabled him to quickly set up shop, but his focus shifted from military to civil aircraft such as the very successful Fokker F.VII
trimotor
.
On 25 March 1919, Fokker married Sophie Marie Elisabeth von Morgen in Haarlem
. This marriage lasted four years.
and later became an American citizen. Here he established the American branch of his company, the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation
. In 1927, Fokker married Violet Austman in New York City
. Austman died mysteriously from a fall from their hotel suite on 8 February 1929.
Fokker died in New York in 1939 from pneumococcal meningitis
. He had been ill for three weeks, and was 49 years old. In 1940, his ashes were brought to Westerveld Cemetery in Driehuis
, where they were buried in the family grave.
was The Flying Dutchman. In popular media, Hurd Hatfield
portrayed him in the 1971 film Von Richthofen and Brown
and the character Roy Fokker from the animated series Robotech
was named in honor of Anthony Fokker. Fokker is portrayed by Craig Kelly
in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Attack of the Hawkmen.
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
pioneer and an aircraft manufacturer. He is most famous for the fighter aircraft he produced in Germany during the First World War such as the Eindecker monoplanes, the Fokker Triplane the and the Fokker D.VII
Fokker D.VII
The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...
, but after the collapse of Germany Fokker moved his business to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and his company were responsible for a variety of successful aircraft including the Fokker trimotor, a successful passenger aircraft of the inter-war years. He died in America in 1939.
Early life
Anthony (Tony) Fokker was born in BlitarBlitar
Blitar is a city which is the capital of a regency with the same name in East Java, Indonesia, about 73 kilometers from Malang and 167 kilometers from Surabaya. The area lies within longitude 111° 40' - 112° 09' East and its latitude is 8° 06' South...
(then Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, now Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
), to Herman Fokker, a Dutch coffee plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
owner. Some sources say that he was born in Kediri
Kediri, East Java
Kediri is an Indonesian city, located near the Brantas River in the province of East Java on the island of Java.Archaeological artefacts discovered in 2007 appeared to indicate that the region around Kediri may have been the location of the Kediri kingdom, a Hindu kingdom in the 11th century.The...
. At that time, Blitar was a part of the 'Kediri Residency', a colonial administrative division the capital of which was in Kediri. When Fokker was four
the family returned to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and settled in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
in order to provide Fokker and his older sister, Toos, with a Dutch upbringing.
Fokker was not a studious boy and did not complete his high school education but he showed an early interest in mechanics, and preferred making things, playing with model trains and steam engines.and experimenting with model aeroplane designs.
He devoted considerable effort to the development of a wheel that would not suffer from punctures, basically a wheel with a perimeter formed by a series of metal plates, This idea had been experimented with elsewhere and was already patented.
Move to Germany
Fokker's first interest in flight stemmed from Wilbur Wright's exhibition flights in France in the summer and fall of 1908. In 1910, aged 20, Fokker was sent by his father to GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to receive training as an automobile mechanic
Mechanic
A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...
at Bingen Technical school, but his interest was in flying, so he transferred to the Erste deutsche Automobole-Fachschule in Mainz. That same year Fokker built his first aircraft "de Spin
Fokker Spin
The Fokker Spin was the first airplane built by Anthony Fokker. The many bracing wires made the plane resemble a giant spider, hence its name Spin ....
" ("the Spider"), which was destroyed by his business partner who flew it into a tree. He gained his pilot license in his second "Spin" aircraft. In his own country, he became a celebrity by flying around the tower of the Sint-Bavokerk
Sint-Bavokerk
The Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk is a Protestant church and former Catholic cathedral located on the central market square in the Dutch city of Haarlem...
in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
on 31 August 1911, with the third version of the "Spin". He also added to his fame by flying on the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...
.
In 1912, Fokker moved to Johannisthal near Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
where he founded his first own company, Fokker Aeroplanbau. In the following years he constructed a variety of airplanes. He relocated his factory to Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...
where it was renamed Fokker Flugzeugwerke GmbH, and later shortened to Fokker Werke GmbH.
Involvement in World War I
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the German government took control of the factory. Fokker remained as director and designed many aircraft for the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte
Luftstreitkräfte
The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte , known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches , or simply Die Fliegertruppen, was the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I...
), including the Fokker Eindecker
Fokker Eindecker
The Fokker Eindecker was a German World War I monoplane single-seat fighter aircraft designed by Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker. Developed in April 1915, the Eindecker was the first purpose-built German fighter aircraft and the first aircraft to be fitted with synchronizer gear, enabling the pilot...
and the Fokker Dr.I
Fokker Dr.I
The Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918...
, the triplane made famous in the hands of aces such as Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...
(the Red Baron). In all, his company delivered about 700 military planes to the German air force.
Fokker himself was a skilled pilot, demonstrating his aircraft on many occasions. On 13 June 1915, Fokker demonstrated the new Eindecker at Stenay
Stenay
Stenay is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.It was one of the last villages to experience fighting during World War I. Stenay was captured on 11 November 1918 by the American 89th Division under General William M. Wright only hours before the Armistice went into...
in the German 5th Army Sector in front of the German Crown Prince and other VIPs
Very Important Person
A Very Important Person, or VIP is a person who is accorded special privileges due to his or her status or importance.Examples include celebrities, heads of state/heads of government, major employers, high rollers, politicians, high-level corporate officers, wealthy individuals, or any other...
. Fokker worked closely with an accomplished military pilot, Otto Parschau
Otto Parschau
Leutnant Otto Parschau was a German World War I Flying Ace and recipient of the Pour le Mérite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, and Iron Cross, First Class. He was noted as one of the pre-eminent aces on the Fokker Eindecker...
, to bring the Eindecker into military use and on this occasion both men demonstrated the aircraft. Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a great pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun...
, later to come become a high-scoring Flying Ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
with the Eindecker, commented in a letter written shortly after this event on 25 June 1915 that:
"Fokker, especially, amazed us with his skill". The Kaiserlich Aero Club Membership List for 1918, lists Hackstetter, Karl, Regierungsbaumeister a.D., Direktor der Fokker-Werke, Schwerin i. M., Friedrich-Franz-Str. 90.
The interrupter gear
Fokker is often credited with having invented the synchronisation deviceInterrupter gear
An interrupter gear is a device used on military aircraft and warships in order to allow them to target opponents without damaging themselves....
which enabled World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
aircraft to fire through the spinning propeller
Propeller (aircraft)
Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...
. His role was certainly significant but there were a number of prior developments before the result was achieved for which Fokker is commonly credited.
The famous French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
pilot, Roland Garros, was shot down on 18 April 1915. His aircraft had been fitted with a deflector device, whereby metal deflector wedges were fitted to the airscrew. Garros was able to set fire to the airframe before being taken prisoner but the aircraft's gun and the armoured propeller remained intact and came into German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
hands.
This initiated a phase of consideration of the interrupter gear concept in the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte
Luftstreitkräfte
The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte , known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches , or simply Die Fliegertruppen, was the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I...
). Fokker was heavily involved in this process but the story of his conception, development and installation of a synchronisation device in a period of 48 hours (first found in an authorised biography of Fokker written in 1929) has been shown to be not factual. The available evidence points to a synchronisation device having been in development with Fokker's company for perhaps six months prior to the capture of Garros' machine.
However the final result of the development was Fokker's pushrod control mechanism, Gestängesteuerung, which allowed the aircraft's forward-firing machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
to fire only when the propeller was out of the line of fire. As incorporated into the famous Fokker Eindecker its use directly led to a phase of German air-superiority known as the Fokker Scourge
Fokker Scourge
The Fokker Scourge was a term coined by the British press in the summer of 1915 to describe the then-current ascendancy of the Fokker Eindecker monoplane fighters of the German Fliegertruppen over the poorly-armed Allied reconnaissance types of the period....
.
Return to the Netherlands
After the war's end, the terms of the Treaty of VersaillesTreaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
forbade Germany to build any aircraft or aircraft engine
Aircraft engine
An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...
s. In 1919 Fokker returned to the Netherlands and started a new aircraft company, the Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek (Dutch Aircraft Factory), predecessor to the Fokker Aircraft Company
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
. Despite the strict disarmament conditions in the Treaty, Fokker did not return home empty-handed: he managed to smuggle an entire train's worth of D.VII
Fokker D.VII
The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...
and C.I
Fokker C.I
|-References:...
military planes and spare parts across the German-Dutch border. This initial stock enabled him to quickly set up shop, but his focus shifted from military to civil aircraft such as the very successful Fokker F.VII
Fokker F.VII
The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence....
trimotor
Trimotor
A trimotor is an aircraft powered by three piston engines.Trimotor designs were relatively common in the early days of aviation, as engines were less powerful and less reliable.-Notable types:* Armstrong Whitworth Argosy...
.
On 25 March 1919, Fokker married Sophie Marie Elisabeth von Morgen in Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
. This marriage lasted four years.
Move to the US and death
In 1922, Fokker moved to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and later became an American citizen. Here he established the American branch of his company, the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation
Atlantic Aircraft
Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, also known as Fokker-America and Atlantic-Fokker, was a US subsidiary of the Dutch Fokker Company, responsible for sales and information about Fokker imports, and eventually constructing various Fokker designs....
. In 1927, Fokker married Violet Austman in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Austman died mysteriously from a fall from their hotel suite on 8 February 1929.
Fokker died in New York in 1939 from pneumococcal meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
. He had been ill for three weeks, and was 49 years old. In 1940, his ashes were brought to Westerveld Cemetery in Driehuis
Driehuis
Driehuis is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Velsen, and lies about 8 km north of Haarlem....
, where they were buried in the family grave.
Popular culture
Fokker's nicknameNickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
was The Flying Dutchman. In popular media, Hurd Hatfield
Hurd Hatfield
William Rukard Hurd Hatfield was an American actor.-Biography:The son of William Henry Hatfield , an attorney who served as deputy attorney general for New York, and his wife, the former Adele Steele, Hatfield was born in New York City, and was educated at Columbia University before travelling to...
portrayed him in the 1971 film Von Richthofen and Brown
Von Richthofen and Brown
Von Richthofen and Brown also known as The Red Baron, is a film directed by Roger Corman, and starring John Phillip Law and Don Stroud as the titular characters....
and the character Roy Fokker from the animated series Robotech
Robotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
was named in honor of Anthony Fokker. Fokker is portrayed by Craig Kelly
Craig Kelly (actor)
Craig Kelly is a British actor, best known for his role as Vince Tyler in the Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk and as Luke Strong in Coronation Street.-Biography:...
in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Attack of the Hawkmen.