Fokker D.V

The Fokker D.V was the German army designation for the Fokker M.22 biplane, ordered as a training aircraft in October 1916. It was the last in a series of closely related and generally unsatisfactory Fokker biplanes produced since the acceptance of the Fokker D.I in June 1916.

In October 1916 Fokker received an order for 200 D.Vs, followed by orders for another 50 in February 1917 and then a final 50 in April. These aircraft were accepted by the German army between December 1916 and July 1917. The two final orders can thus be seen as a vote of confidence in the type, at least as a trainer, arriving after the training units had had significant experience of using the type.

By the end of 1916 the German army was well aware of the quality control problems that went with any Fokker aircraft, and so one production aircraft was selected at random to undergo rigorous tests. Predictably the wings and rudder both failed these tests and had to be strengthened, but after that the type performed satisfactorily. Compared to the combat aircraft of 1917 it was underpowered, and its rotary engine meant that it did not perform in the same way as the aircraft of 1917. The D.V had a final burst of life in 1918 when the rotary powered Fokker triplane was about to enter service. By this time rotary engined aircraft were rare, as were pilots with experience of flying them, and so a number of the surviving D.Vs were sent to front line units to be used as a conversion trainer.  

Span: 28ft 8in
Length: 19ft 10in
Engine: 100hp Oberursal UR.I
Max speed: 106mph
Time to 3,300ft: 3 minutes
Time to 13,000ft: 24 minutes
Armament: One LMG 08/15 machine gun synchronised (when fitted)

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How to cite this article: Rickard, J (30 October 2007), Fokker D.V , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_fokker_dV.html

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