Fokker F.VIII

The Fokker F.VIII (or F.8) was a large twin-engined airliner designed and produced by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker in the 1920s. In 1926, the Dutch airline KLM issued a request for an airliner with more passenger capacity than the F.VII variants in operation at the time. Designer Reinhold Platz immediately started work on the F.VIII in response. The F.VIII featured mixed construction: fuselage and tail section were constructed as a fram... more

The Fokker F.VIII (or F.8) was a large twin-engined airliner designed and produced by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker in the 1920s. In 1926, the Dutch airline KLM issued a request for an airliner with more passenger capacity than the F.VII variants in operation at the time. Designer Reinhold Platz immediately started work on the F.VIII in response. The F.VIII featured mixed construction: fuselage and tail section were constructed as a frame of welded steel covered with plywood (sometimes known as multiplex), canvas and duralumin, but the wing framing was all wood covered with plywood. This had become standard Fokker construction and the result was one of their characteristic cantilever high winged monoplanes. The F.VIII was Fokker's first twin engined airliner, a reflection of the increasing power available from the light radials engines of the time. All their previous designs had an engine in the nose, and its absence in the F.VIII lead to less prop-wash wear and tear on the... less