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A Plane Canvas Man...
Anthony (Tony) Fokker was born in Kediri, East Java (then Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia), son of Herman Fokker, a Dutch coffee plantation owner. The Brilliant Eindecker...
In 1910, at age 20, Fokker was sent by his father to Germany to receive training as a mechanic. Yet his interest was in flying, prompting him to change schools. 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. Anthony's DVIIs in flight today
Above...Anthony unwittingly terrifies the natives of Haarlem as he flies one of his prewar experiments right over the shoppe roofs... The 20th Century's greatest flyer demonstrates his Fokker and his unbelievable prowess with it.
In 1922, he moved to the United States 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. Another Fokker diamond...
The Eindecker was based on Fokker's unarmed A.III scout (itself following very closely the design of the French Morane-Saulnier Type H shoulder-wing monoplane) which was fitted with a synchronizer mechanism controlling a single Parabellum MG14 machine gun. Anthony Fokker personally demonstrated the system, having towed the prototype aircraft behind his touring car to a military airfield near Berlin. The Great Hunter climbs into his Fokker...
The first Eindecker victory, though unconfirmed, was achieved by Kurt Wintgens on 1 July 1915 when, while flying one of the five M.5K/MG production prototype aircraft, numbered 'E.5/15', he forced down a French Morane-Saulnier Type L two seat "parasol" monoplane. By this time the first Fokker E.Is were arriving at front line units. The Fokker Scourge
The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 1,700 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself superior to existing Allied fighters, leading to a second "Fokker Scourge." The Armistice ending the war specifically required Germany to surrender all D.VIIs to the Allies at the conclusion of hostilities; nevertheless, the aircraft saw continued widespread service with many other countries in the years after World War I. Anthony's DVII...
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