Meet The Fokkers !

The first ever Dutch-built plane to fly in the Netherlands was built by a 20 year old Anthony Fokker, and called the Spin (Spider).

Taking advantage of opportunities in Berlin, he founded his Company, Fokker Aviatik GmbH, on 12 February 1912

He capitalized on having sold several Fokker Spin monoplanes to the German government and set up a factory in Germany to supply the German army. His first new design for the Germans to be produced in any numbers was the Fokker M.5, which was little more than a copy of the Morane-Saulnier G. When it was realized that it was desirable to arm the planes with a machine gun firing through the propeller, Fokker developed a synchronization gear similar to that patented by Franz Schneider.
Fitted with a developed version of this gear, the M.5 became the Fokker Eindecker which, due to its revolutionary armament, became one of the most feared aircraft over the western front, its introduction leading to a period of German air superiority known as the Fokker Scourge

Later during the war, the German government forced Fokker and Junkers to cooperate more closely, which resulted in the foundation of the Junkers-Fokker Aktiengesellschaft on 20 October 1917. As this partnership proved to be troublesome, it was eventually dissolved again. By then, designer Reinhold Platz had adapted some of Junkers design concepts, what resulted in a visual similarity between the aircraft of those two manufacturers during the next decade.



Some of the noteworthy types produced by Fokker during the second half of the war included the Fokker D.VI, Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker - the mount of the Red Baron.