Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker (6 April 1890 – 23 December 1939) was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such as the Eindecker monoplanes, the Dr.1 triplane and the D.VII biplane.
After the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to produce aircraft, Fokker moved his business to the Netherlands. There, his company was responsible for a variety of aircraft including the Fokker F.VII/3m trimotor, a successful interwar passenger aircraft. He died in New York City in 1939. Later authors suggest he was personally charismatic but unscrupulous in business and a controversial character.
Early life
Anthony (Tony) Fokker was born in Blitar,[1] Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), to Herman Fokker, a Dutch coffee plantation owner and Johanna Hugona Wouterina Wilhelmina Diemont.[2] 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 Kediri. He was a cousin of the physicist Adriaan Fokker.[3]
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.[2]
Fokker was not a studious boy and did not complete his high school education. However, he showed an early interest in mechanics, and preferred making things, playing with model trains and steam engines, and experimenting with model aeroplane designs.[2]
As a high school student, 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.[2]
Move to Germany
Fokker's 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 Germany to receive training as an automobile mechanic at Bingen Technical school, but his interest was in flying, so he transferred to the Erste deutsche Automobil-Fachschule in Mainz.[4] That same year Fokker built his first aircraft "de Spin" ("the Spider"), which was destroyed when his business partner flew it into a tree.[5] He gained his flying certificate in his second "Spin" aircraft, which shortly thereafter was also destroyed by the same business partner, prompting Fokker to end their relationship.[6] In his own country, he became a celebrity by flying around the tower of the Grote or St.-Bavokerk in Haarlem on 1 September 1911,[7] with the third version of the "Spin".[8]
Involvement in World War I
At the outbreak of World War I the German government took control of the factory. Fokker remained as director and alleged designer of 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 aircraft to the German air force as well as supplying the German navy and Austria-Hungary.
Fokker himself was a skilled pilot, demonstrating his aircraft on many occasions. On 13 June 1915, Fokker demonstrated the new Eindecker (monoplane) 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 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".
Author A.R. Weyl (Fokker: The Creative Years, Putnam 1965) says that, while Fokker was a talented and bold pilot, his business character was more flawed. He failed to reinvest war profits back into his factory which consequently struggled to fulfill contracts as the factory floor was often muddled with prototype development and production taking place at the same time. Fokker distrusted qualified engineers (which he was not), and resented frequent German insistence on carrying out stringent structural tests to ensure prototype aircraft were fit for combat. He could be bad tempered and insensitive, as when he verbally abused his dying designer Martin Kreuzer on the evening of 27 June 1916, after Kreuzer had crashed the prototype Fokker D.I. The rudder jammed, but Kreuzer was able to give an oral report on the accident before he died.
The interrupter gear
Fokker is often credited with having invented the synchronization device[12] 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, consisting of metal deflector wedges fitted to the propeller. Garros was able to set fire to the aircraft before being taken prisoner but the aircraft's gun and the armoured propeller remained intact and came into German hands.[13]
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 synchronization device in a period of 48 hours (first found in an authorized 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.[13] Additionally there were patents filed in France, Germany and Austria-Hungary as far back as 1910 for very similar devices to that produced by Fokker.
Other works on aircraft armament
Fokker and his armament team, including Lübbe and Leimberger, also worked on lesser known projects, including a multi-barrelled machine gun, known as the Fokker-Leimberger.[14] Although superficially similar to a Gatling gun, the action of the Fokker-Leimberger was substantially different. Problems with the gun, especially with ruptured cases, prevented its adoption into production during the war.[15] After moving to the US, Fokker continued to work on the design, but he was ultimately unsuccessful—properly sealing the rotary split-breech was apparently very difficult. A single surviving prototype is known today at the Kentucky Military Treasures.[16][17]
Return to the Netherlands
After the war's end, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to build any aircraft or aircraft engines. The Armistice, not the Treaty of Versailles, singled out the Fokker D.VII for destruction or confiscation, the only aircraft to be so named. 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 six goods trains' worth of D.VII and C.I military aircraft and spare parts out of Germany across the German-Dutch border. Author Weyl says that Fokker used 350 railway wagons and made sure that each train was too long to fit into the railway sidings where trains were normally checked for contraband. Weyl quotes Fokker himself as saying that he paid 20,000 Dutch guilders in bribes. The trains included 220 aeroplanes, more than 400 aero engines and much other material. 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/3m trimotor.
Fokker's admitted bribery has contributed to his reputation for sharp business practices. Weyl also points out that – in addition to possible criminal charges for the Fokker D.VIII fatal crashes – Fokker also failed to pay taxes to German authorities, and actually owed more than 14 million marks. Fokker's autobiography tells a similar story, but focuses on the rampant corruption, hyper-inflation, economic meltdown, and violent revolutionary forces of the pre-Weimar days. According to Fokker's account, as WWI progressed, the German High Command became increasingly brazen, even forcing Fokker into German citizenship against his will. Fokker describes his escape from Germany as a harrowing tale in which he protected as many workers as possible and escaped with less than a quarter of his net worth.
Personal life
On 25 March 1919, Fokker married Sophie Marie Elisabeth von Morgen in Haarlem. This marriage ended in divorce in 1923. In 1927, he married Canadian Violet Austman in New York City. On 8 February 1929, she died in a fall from their hotel suite window. The original police report said her death was a suicide, but this was later changed to "vertigo victim" at the request of her husband's staff. On the subject of his marriages, Fokker wrote, "I have always understood airplanes much better than women. I had more love affairs in my life, and they ended just like the first one, really, because I thought there was nothing that could be more important than my airplanes ... I have now learned, by bitter experience, that one must give a little too; in love one has to use one's brain just as much as in business, and perhaps even more".[19]
Move to the US and death
In or about 1926 or 1927, Fokker moved to the United States. Here he established the North American branch of his company, the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation. The company gained high visibility in daring exploits by pilots. The Fokker F.VII aircraft was used by pilot Richard E. Byrd and machinist Floyd Bennett to fly over or near the North Pole on 9 May 1926. In June 1928, Amelia Earhart crossed the Atlantic to Wales in a Fokker F.VII/3m trimotor, and in 1930 Charles Kingsford Smith circumnavigated the globe in another. However the reputation was hurt when the famous University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne was killed in the crash of a Fokker F.10A in March 1931.
Fokker's Dutch and American companies were at the peak of their success in the late 1920s, but he lost control by going public to sell stock. In 1929, General Motors took over Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America, and merged it in the General Aviation Corporation. Fokker was appointed director of engineering. He resigned in 1931. Fokker designs were increasingly outdated and in 1934 General Aviation discontinued their production. They were still built in the Netherlands.
Neville Shute in 1934 negotiated with Fokker for a manufacturing licensing agreement for Airspeed Ltd (England), and found him "genial, shrewd and helpful" but "already a sick man"; and he was difficult to deal with as "his domestic life was irregular". He worked "at all hours and in strange places".
Popular culture
Fokker's nickname was The Flying Dutchman. In popular media, Hurd Hatfield portrayed him in the 1971 film Von Richthofen and Brown. The character Roy Fokker from the animated series Super Dimension Fortress Macross and its prequel Macross Zero was named in honor of Anthony Fokker and Roy Brown, the Royal Air Force pilot who is officially credited with downing Manfred von Richthofen's Fokker Dr.I.[24] Fokker is portrayed by Craig Kelly in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Attack of the Hawkmen.
One of KLM's Boeing 747-200s, registration serial PH-BUN, was named after Fokker and operated for the airline from 1979 until 2004. The aircraft was scrapped after the end of its service with KLM.
Television series
Turbulent Skies is a 2020 Dutch television series comprising eight episodes depicting Anthony Fokker's and Albert Plesman's achievements.
See also
- Jan Hilgers
- Vecihi Hürkuş
Bibliography
- Boyne, Walter J. The Smithsonian Book of Flight for Young People. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1988. ISBN 0-689-31422-1.
- Dierikx, Marc. Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. ISBN 1-56098-735-9.
- Fokker, Anthony and Bruce Gould. Flying Dutchman: The Life of Anthony Fokker. London: George Routledge, 1931.
- Hegener, Henri; Bruce Robinson (ed.) Fokker – The Man and the Aircraft. Lethchworth: Harleyford, 1961.
- Molson, K. M. Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport. Winnipeg: James Richardson & Sons, Ltd., 1974. ISBN 0-919212-39-5.
- Nevin, David. The Pathfinders (The Epic of Flight Series). Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980. ISBN 0-8094-3256-0.
- Postma, Thijs. Fokker: Aircraft Builders to the World. London: Jane's, 1979. ISBN 0-7106-0059-3.
- Wepman, Dennis. "Fokker, Anthony" American National Biography (2006) online
- Weyl, A. R. Fokker: The Creative Years. London, Putnam publications, 1965
External links
- "Tony Fokker Wizard of Flight", Popular Science, May 1931
- "Tony Fokker and the World War", Popular Science, June 1931
- "Tony Fokker Captures America", Popular Science, July 1931
- Anthony Fokker Richard Byrd and others in restored Fox Movietone sound newsreel during preparations for Fokker America flight. Recorded 19 May 1927 the day before Lindbergh's famous Atlantic flight (courtesy University of South Carolina)
References
- Eddi Santosa. Laporan dari Den Haag: Fokker, dari Kediri Lalu Mendunia detiknews.com, 28 February 2007, retrieved 8 October 2009^
- Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland International Institute of Social History, 1979, retrieved 15 December 2023^
- Adriaan Daniël Fokker (1887-1972)