Fokker F.III
| Fokker F.III | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Role | Passenger transport |
| Manufacturer | Fokker |
| Designer | Reinhold Platz |
| First flight | April 1921 |
| Primary users |
Deutsche Aero Lloyd KLM |
| Number built | c.66 |
| Developed from | Fokker F.II |
The Fokker F.III was a single-engined high-winged monoplane aircraft produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It could carry five passengers. The aircraft was also built under licence in Germany as the Fokker-Grulich F.III.
The Fokker F.III was a straightforward development of the F.II. A widened cabin allowed all five passengers to sit within; in the earlier aircraft, one passenger sat alongside the pilot in his exposed cockpit. The pilot now sat alongside the engine, which was offset laterally by about 100 mm (4 in); whether to port or starboard depended on the type of engine installed. Although this unusual arrangement meant that pilots were "burned on one side and frozen on the other," they had a much better view than from the F.II. The view was further improved by a cut-out in the wing leading edge for the pilot's head, allowing his seat to be raised. The external wing struts of the F.II were removed, leaving a clean cantilever wing. The trapezoidal windows seen in the Grulich built F.IIs were standard on the F.III.
Like its predecessor, the F.III was initially powered by a readily available, war surplus 138 kW (185 hp) BMW IIIa engine, but once again KLM re-engined theirs with the 172 kW (230 hp) Armstrong Siddeley Puma.
The F.III was first used by KLM when they reopened their Amsterdam-London service on 14 April 1921 (they did not, at this time operate over winter). Soon, F.IIIs were also flying on routes to Bremen, Brussels, Hamburg, and Paris. They proved to be very reliable aircraft. KLM received 14 F.IIIs from Fokker's German factory at Schwerin during 1921 and built two more itself from spares in the following year. This final pair used 268-kW (360-hp) Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, with the pilot on the left.
Another operator of new F.IIIs was Deutsch-Russiche Luftverkehrs Gesellschaft (Deruluft) which used nine aircraft on their Berlin-Königsberg-Moscow route from May 1922. These machines, partially built in Schwerin and finished in the Netherlands at Veere, had Eagle engines. One was a Fokker-Grulich.
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