Fokker S-11 Instructor

Fokker F27 Friendship

Fokker first began manufacturing planes in Germany in 1912. On 21 July 1919, Anthony H.G. Fokker founded the "N.V. Nederlandse Vliegtuigfabriek" in Amsterdam. To commemorate Fokker's thirty years of aircraft manufacture in the Netherlands, they were granted the title "Royal Dutch Aircraft Manufacturer Fokker" on 21 July 1949. Until production ended after Fokker collapsed due to financial problems on 15 March 1996, Fokker have developed and constructed over 100 different types of aircraft, both for military and civil aviation. Design studies for Fokker's first airliner after World War II were initiated in 1950. In 1951 Fokker received support for this study for "Ontwerp 271" and the next two years were spent studying a variety of different configurations before the decision was made in favour of a twin-Dart aeroplane with pressurised accommodation for 28 passengers and a minimum range of 483 km with a capacity payload. On 1 September 1953, the development programme for the F-27 Friendship started. Four prototypes were to be built, two for test flying (F-1 and F-3) and the other two for static fatigue tests (F-2 and F-4). The first prototype (F-1) was powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart 6 Mk.507 engines and flew first on 24 November 1955 as PH-NIV. The second prototype (F-3), which had a 0.91 meter lengthened fuselage and the higher-powered Rolls-Royce Dart 6 Mk.511, followed on 31 January 1957 as PH-NVF. The first production aircraft (F-5 c/n 10105), a Fokker F-27-101 made its first flight on 23 March 1958 as PH-FAA and was h/o to Aer Lingus on 19 November 1958 as EI-AKA. Until production of the Fokker F-27 ended in 1986 a total of 786 aircraft were built, including 206 manufactured under licence by Fairchild in the U.S.A.

On 26 March 1962, Fokker F-27-129 s/n 10198 made its first flight as PH-LIP and the aircraft was registered with Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken NV on 4 April 1962. In 1975, Philips Vliegdienst sold their Fokker F-27 Friendship. The registration PH-LIP was cancelled on 15 April 1975. The Fokker was transferred to WDL Flugdienst GmbH and registered as D-BAKA in Germany on 28 June 1975. The aircraft was not only operated by WDL but also leased to DLT and Crossair. After being withdrawn from use the D-BAKA was scrapped at Essen-Mülheim in Germany.

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