One hundred years ago, Dutch aircraft manufacturer Anthony Fokker flew his self-built ‘Spider’ aircraft around the Grote Kerk (Great Church) in Haarlem. That achievement is celebrated this month with an exhibition and events in Haarlem. Fokker is a national hero, but he gained some of his fame just outside the Netherlands.

The Spider was equipped with a small four-cylinder, water-cooled engine. Fortunately, there was no headwind during his Haarlem flight, otherwise Fokker's plane, which was made of canvas, wood and many wires, would have hardly moved forward. The unique design, resembling a spider, gave the aircraft its name.

This first flight sent the 21-year-old Haarlemmer, who had left school early, on his way to becoming a world-class aircraft manufacturer. However, he did not open his first factory in the Netherlands but near the German capital Berlin in 1912. There he developed the First World War fighter aircraft bearing his name for the German armed forces.

Machine gun
Fokker succeeded in synchronising his aircraft’s gun with the propeller, allowing bullets to be fired between blade rotations. Aircraft with this ingenious technology could shoot straight ahead without blowing their propellers to pieces.

After the German surrender in 1918, Fokker smuggled 220 aircraft by train from his German factories to the Netherlands. He did this to ensure his products were not confiscated by the Allies when Germany was disarmed. 

The Netherlands had remained neutral during the First World War, but there was still an air of negativity regarding Anthony Fokker’s past. Because of this, when he settled in Amsterdam in 1919, he changed the name of the Fokker Factory to the Dutch Aircraft Factory. 

General Motors
Fokker emigrated to the United States in 1923 and founded a new branch of his company called the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation. By the late 1920s it was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world. But following a merger with General Motors, Fokker ended up relegated to the background. He retired in 1931 and died in New York in 1939.

The Fokker company continued to develop after World War II, with global successes including the F27 Friendship and later, the F28 Fellowship equipped with jet engines. But ultimately, Fokker’s enterprise was too small to compete financially with other manufacturing strongholds. 

After a takeover by DASA of Germany, the company was declared bankrupt in 1996. But not everything was lost, stresses aviation expert Anne Cor Groeneveld:

“With the great progress that the aviation industry has made in our country you will notice a number of variables and anchor points have disappeared. The Fokker factories have also disappeared. Stork (Dutch aerospace manufacturing company) has kept the Fokker name alive as well as a number of Fokker products. But there are no longer independent Fokker aircraft in the country.”

Nevertheless, a number of former employees led by Jaap Rosen Jacobson, launched the company Rekkof (yes, Fokker backwards) a few years ago. They aim to introduce a modernised version of the Fokker F100 to the market.

In March, an agreement in principle was reached with the Brazilian authorities to build a Rekkof factory in the city of Anápolis. If that plant is built, Fokker will get a second chance. But, as it was one hundred years ago, it will be outside Dutch borders.

(lo/imm)