The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer

Fokker Fokker (; ) was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1912 to 1996. The company was founded by the Dutch aviator Anthony Fokker and became famous during World War I for its fighter aircraft. During its most successful period in the 19 ...

, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and several other companies under license. It was an airliner that could carry 6-12 people, depending on the version, and it used a variety of engines and engine configurations; while the first versions had a single nose engine, most were produced with three engines. The F.VII was an important airliner in the 1920s and 1930s; made in several versions, it was used for record breaking flights. An enlarged variant of the F.VII, the F-10, was involved in a famous aviation accident in 1931, leadingn to safety reforms in the USA. It was also used for an attempt to reach the North Pole, although there was a debate if it did reach all the way there: the aircraft was at least flown in arctic conditions in this attempt. Less controversially, it was flown in the first flight across the Pacific from Australia to the United States, and earlier it was used in flight from the United States to Hawaii. In the 1930s, the aircraft began to fall out of favor as newer designs that were larger, faster, and more streamlined entered service. Some major variations on this design included the Fokker F-10, which was bit bigger and could carry four additional passengers, and the Fokker F.VIII, which omitted the central engine thus becoming a twin-engined aircraft. The Fokker F.VII was also produced by licensees outside the Netherlands including SABCA, Avia, Avro, and others.

Design and development

The F.VII was designed as a single-engined transport aircraft by

Walter Rethel Walther Karl Paul Rethel (15 August 1892 – 1977) was a German aircraft designer born in Wesel. Rethel was born to Prussian Major General Paul Rethel (1855-1933) and Mally Rethel. Rethel's grandfather was the painter Otto Rethel (1822–1892 ...

. Five examples of this model were built for the Dutch airline KLM. One of these aircraft, registered H-NACC, was used in 1924 for the first flight from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies. In 1925, while living in the US,

Anthony Fokker Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker (6 April 1890 – 23 December 1939) was a Dutch aviation pioneer, aviation entrepreneur, aircraft designer, and aircraft manufacturer. He produced fighter aircraft in Germany during the First World War such ...

heard of the inaugural Ford Reliability Tour, which was proposed as a competition for transport aircraft. Fokker had the company's head designer,

Reinhold Platz Reinhold Platz (16 January 1886 – 15 September 1966) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer in service of the Dutch company Fokker. Platz was hired by Fokker in 1912 as a welder. His first hands-on projects were to weld the frame pa ...

, convert a single-engine F.VIIA airliner to a

trimotor A trimotor is a propeller-driven aircraft powered by three internal combustion engines, characteristically one on the nose and one on each wing. A compromise between complexity and safety, such a configuration was typically a result of the limit ...

configuration, powered by

Wright Whirlwind The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to in ...

radial engines. The resulting aircraft was designated the Fokker F.VIIA-3m. Following shipment to the US, it won the Ford Reliability Tour in late 1925. The Trimotor's structure consisted of a fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage and a plywood-skinned wooden wing. The Fokker F.VIIB-3m had a slightly increased wing area over the F.VIIA-3m, with power increased to per engine, while the F.10 was slightly enlarged, carrying 12 passengers in an enclosed cabin. The aircraft became popularly known as the Fokker Trimotor. The Fokker F.VIII (F.8) was similar, but a twin engine configuration rather than a trimotor, and it was bigger. The Fokker F.IX (F-9) had a similar configuration to the F.VII, but it was quite a bit larger and carried 20 passengers.

Operational history

The eight- to 12-passenger Fokker was the aircraft of choice for many early airlines, both in Europe and the Americas, and it dominated the American market in the late 1920s. However, the popularity of the Fokker quickly waned after the 1931 crash of a Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F.10, which resulted in the death of Notre Dame

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach

Knute Rockne Knute Kenneth Rockne (; March 4, 1888 – March 31, 1931) was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame. Leading Notre Dame for 13 seasons, Rockne accumulated over 100 wins and three national championships. Rockne is ...

. The investigation revealed problems with the Fokker's

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

laminate Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

construction, resulting in a temporary ban from commercial flights, more stringent maintenance requirements, and a shift to all-metal aircraft such as the similar

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American Trimotor, three-engined transport plane, transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, afte ...

and later

Boeing 247 The Boeing Model 247 is an early American airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal ( anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing, and retractable landing gear.

and

Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 is a retired 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3 ...

Pioneers and explorers

The F.VII was used by many explorers and aviation pioneers, including: *

Richard E. Byrd Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer, and pioneering aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader cr ...

claimed to have flown over the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

in the Fokker F.VIIA-3m '' Josephine Ford'' (N267) on 9 May 1926, a few days before

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

accomplished the feat in the

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

Norge Norge is the Norwegian (Bokmål and Riksmål), Danish and Swedish name for Norway. It may also refer to: People * Kaare Norge (born 1963), Danish guitarist * Norge Luis Vera (born 1971), Cuban baseball player Places * 11871 Norge, asteroid ...

''.Baaker, Leo
"Famous Fokker Flights."
''tiscali.nl.''Retrieved: 20 December 2010. *

Lester Maitland Lester James Maitland (February 8, 1899 – March 27, 1990) was an aviation pioneer and career officer in the United States Army Air Forces and its predecessors. Maitland began his career as a United States Army Reserve, Reserve pilot in the U.S ...

and

Albert Hegenberger Albert Francis Hegenberger (September 30, 1895 – August 31, 1983) was a major general in the United States Air Force and a pioneering aviator who set a flight distance record with Lester J. Maitland, completing the first transpacific flig ...

, two lieutenants of the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

, made the first transpacific flight from the continental

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

(c. 2,400 mi/3,862 km) in the Atlantic-Fokker C-2 '' Bird of Paradise'' on 28–29 June 1927. * Richard E. Byrd,

Bernt Balchen Bernt Balchen (23 October 1899 – 17 October 1973) was a Norwegian pioneer polar aviator, navigator, aircraft mechanical engineer and military leader. A Norwegian native, he later became an American citizen and was a recipient of the Disting ...

and two others flew the first official

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...

in the civilian-owned C-2 ''

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

'' (NX206), crash-landing off the coast of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 1 July 1927. * Lieutenant Colonel 'Dan' Minchin,

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Leslie Hamilton Flying Officer Leslie Hamilton , was a British pilot and First World War flying ace credited with six aerial victories. In 1927, he disappeared while attempting the first non-stop east–west flight across the Atlantic Ocean. His Fokker F.VIIa ...

and

Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (; née Lady Anne Savile; 25 May 1864 – 31 August 1927) was an English socialite and aviation patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organizatio ...

attempted on 31 August 1927 to become the first aviators to cross the Atlantic from east to west using a Fokker F.VIIa named '' St. Raphael'' (G-EBTQ). Their fate remains unknown. *

James DeWitt Hill James DeWitt Hill (2 March 1882 – 7 September 1927) was an early US air mail pilot, who died while attempting one of the first transatlantic flights, with Lloyd Wilson Bertaud in a Fokker F.VIIA monoplane named ''Old Glory''. Early life and ...

and Lloyd W. Bertaud made a failed attempt to fly from

Old Orchard Beach, Maine Old Orchard Beach is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,960 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. Located on the inner side of ...

, to Rome in the F.VIIA ''

Old Glory Old Glory is a nickname for the flag of the United States. The original "Old Glory" was a flag owned by the 19th-century American sea captain William Driver (March 17, 1803 – March 3, 1886). He flew the flag during his career at sea and ...

'' (NX703) on 6 September 1927, but they and the aircraft were lost in the North Atlantic the following day. * Sir

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was ...

's F.VIIB-3m ''

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

'' was the first aircraft to cross the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

from the United States to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in June 1928, and the first to cross the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

, flying from Australia to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and back in September of that year. *

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic on 17 June 1928, as a passenger aboard the Fokker F.VIIB-3m ''Friendship'' (NX4204). * A group of U. S. Army Air Corps flyers, led by then-

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Carl Spaatz Carl Andrew Spaatz (born Spatz; 28 June 1891 – 14 July 1974), nicknamed "Tooey", was an American World War II general. As commander of Strategic Air Forces in Europe in 1944, he successfully pressed for the bombing of the enemy's oil productio ...

, set an endurance record of over 150 hours with the ''Question Mark'', a Fokker C-2A over Los Angeles on 1 to 7 January 1929. The purpose of this mission was to set a flight endurance record using

aerial refueling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to an ...

. * ''Princess Xenia'' (a FVII, registered G-EBTS later renamed 'The Spider') ** 2 September 1928, C D Barnard and Eric Alliot flew

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

to London 5,000 miles in 4.5 days ** 2-8 August 1929 C D Barnard, Bob Little and

Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford Mary Du Caurroy Russell, Duchess of Bedford, (née Tribe; 26 September 1865 – ca. 22 March 1937) was a British aviator and ornithologist. She was honoured for her work in founding hospitals and working in them during the First World War. She ...

flew to Karachi and back; 10,000 miles in eight days. ** 10 April 1930, C D Barnard, Bob Little and the Duchess of Bedford flew from Lympne to Cape Town - 9,000 miles in 91 hours and twenty minutes over 10 days.

Variants

;F.VII: Single-engined transport aircraft, powered by

Rolls-Royce Eagle The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of oth ...

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 engine, W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept ...

12-cylinder inline engines, accommodation for two crew and six passengers; five built. One converted to use

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter is a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine that was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developme ...

9-cylinder radial and two to use Gnome-Rhône built Jupiter VI engine.Stroud 1966, pp. 466–467. ;F.VIIA (F.VIIA-1m): Single-engined transport aircraft; the capacity was increased to carry 8 passengers and the aircraft received a new, simplified undercarriage with suspension and aerodynamic improvements (the ailerons were contained within the profile of the wing and capped by rounded wing tips, the aircraft was equipped with an adjustable stabilizer). Flown on 12 March 1925. First aircraft had a V-12 Packard Liberty engine, but a further 39 F.VIIA examples had mostly Bristol Jupiter or

Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled, radial piston engines developed in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentschler, who had previ ...

radial engines. ;F.VIIA-3m: The result of an attempt to improve the reliability of the aircraft by installing two additional underwing engines; flown on 4 September 1925. The first two aircraft were otherwise identical to the F.VIIA. From the third aircraft, the fuselage was 31 in (80 cm) longer and was powered by 200 hp (149 kW)

Wright J-4 Whirlwind The Wright R-790 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical Corporation, with a total displacement of about and around . These engines were the earliest members of the Wright Whirlw ...

radial engines. Probably only 18 were built, while many F.VIIA were upgraded to the F.VIIA-3m standard. ;F.VIIB-3m: Main production variant with heavier engines (offered were the Wright Whirlwind,

Armstrong Siddeley Lynx The Armstrong Siddeley Lynx is a British seven-cylinder Aircraft engine, aero engine developed by Armstrong Siddeley. It was developed as a single row version of the two-row Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar. Testing began in 1920 and 6,000 had been p ...

or Titan Major radial engines) as well as a greater wing span and modified wing geometry; 154 built, including those built under licence. ;F-9: American-built version of the Fokker F.VIIB-3m; built by the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in the United States. ; F-10: Enlarged version of the Fokker F.VII airliner, able to carry up to 12 passengers; built by the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation in the United States. Fokker C-2 090713-F-1234K-067

;C-2: Military transport version of the Fokker F.9, powered by three 220 hp (164 kW) Wright J-5 radial piston engines, accommodation for two pilots and ten passengers; three built in 1926 for the

US Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

. ;C-2A: Military transport version for the US Army Air Corps, with greater wingspan, powered by three 220 hp (164 kW) Wright J-5 radial piston engines, accommodation for two pilots and ten passengers; eight built in 1928. ;XC-7: One C-2A fitted with three 330 hp (246 kW) Wright J-6-9 radial piston engines. Re-designated C-7 when four C-2A examples were similarly reconfigured. ;C-7: Military transport conversion of C-2A for the US Army Air Corps by re-engining with 300 hp (220 kW) Wright R-975 engines. XC-7 prototype and four C-2As re-designated in 1931. ;C-7A: Six new production C-7 (Wright R-975) aircraft with larger wings, new vertical fin design, and fuselages patterned after the commercial F.10A. ;XLB-2: Experimental light bomber version of the C-7, powered by three 410 hp (306 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1380 Wasp radial piston engines; one built. ;TA-1: Military transport version for the US Navy and Marine Corps; three built. ;TA-2: Military transport version for the US Navy; three built. ;TA-3: Military transport version for the US Navy, powered by three Wright J-6 radial piston engines; one built. ;RA-1: Re-designation of the TA-1. ;RA-2: Re-designation of the TA-2. ;RA-3: Re-designation of the TA-3.

Licensed versions

SABCA SABCA () is a Belgian aerospace company. Its main sectors of activity are civil aviation, space and defence. SABCA was established during 1920. Presently, it is owned by the Belgian group Orizio, itself owned by the Société Fédérale de Par ...

, 29 aircraft built. *

Avia AVIA () is a Soviet/Russian experimental pop band formed in Leningrad in 1986. AVIA released four studio albums and led the first wave of the Soviet bands which made their breakthrough in the West in the late 1980s. Band history AVIA was formed ...

, 18 aircraft built. * Three aircraft built in Italy as the IMAM Ro.10, powered by three 215 hp Alfa Romeo Lynx (licence built Armstrong Siddeley) engines. Three built for operation by Avio Linee Italiane and

Ala Littoria Ala Littoria S.A. was the Italian national airline that operated during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1940s. History ''Ala Littoria'' was formed by a merger of Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (S ...

. *

Plage i Laśkiewicz Plage i Laśkiewicz (Plage & Laśkiewicz) was the first Polish aerospace manufacturer, located in Lublin and manufacturing aircraft under Lublin name. Full name was: ''Zakłady Mechaniczne E. Plage i T. Laśkiewicz'' – Mechanical Works E. Plag ...

. Between 1929 and 1930, produced 11 examples of F.VIIB-3m, plus 20 of its own F.VIIB-3m bomber version (developed by

Jerzy Rudlicki Jerzy Rudlicki (Polish pronunciation: ; 14 March 1893 – 18 August 1977) was a Polish pilot and aerospace engineer. Best known for his inventing and patenting of the V-tail, which is an aircraft tail configuration that combines the rudder and e ...

). * Three aircraft built in Spain. *

Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

, 14 aircraft known as

Avro 618 Ten The Avro 618 Ten or X was a passenger transport aircraft of the 1930s. It was a licensed version by Avro of the Fokker Fokker F.VII, F.VIIB/3m. Development In 1928 Avro came to an arrangement with Fokker to license production of its successful ...

used Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engines

Operators

Civilian operators

; * SABENA operated 28 aircraft. ; *''

Det Danske Luftfartselskab Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S or DDL, trading in English as Danish Air Lines, was Denmark's national airline from 1918 until it merged to create Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in 1951. DDL was established on 29 October 1918, but started its ...

'' operated three F.VIIA aircraft. ; * CIDNA operated seven F.VIIA aircraft. *

Air Orient Air Orient was an airline based in France. Created in 1929 from the merger of ''Air Asie'' (c. 1928) and ''Air Union Lignes d’Orient'' (c. 1927 – renamed from Messageries Transaeriennes 1923), the short lived airline was merged with Air Fran ...

operated eight F.VIIB aircraft. *

STAR A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

operated one F.VIIA aircraft. ; * Avio Linee Italiane *

; *

Malert MALÉRT (''Magyar Légiforgalmi R.T.'') was a Hungarian airline. History The airline was founded on November 19, 1922. By 1929, the airline flew regular flights connecting Budapest with Belgrade and Vienna. The main fleet before 1939 were eight ...

operated two F.VIIA aircraft. ; *2 F.VIIB-3ms operated by the Manchuria Aviation Company ; *

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

received all five F.VII aircraft and 15 F.VIIA. ; *

Aero Aero is a Greek prefix relating to flight and air. In British English, it is used as an adjective related to flight (e.g., as a shortened substitute for aeroplane). Aero, Ærø, or Aeros may refer to: Aeronautics Airlines and companies * Aero (A ...

operated six F.VIIA aircraft for a short period in 1928. Since 1 January 1929, all aircraft were handed over to PLL LOT airline. * ''Polskie Linie Lotnicze'' LOT operated six F.VIIA and 13 locally license-built F.VIIB-3m between 1929 and 1939. ; *

Aero Portuguesa Aero Portuguesa (AP, sometimes written Aero-Portuguesa, short names for the ''Sociedade Aero Portuguesa Lda.'' - Air Portuguese Society, Ltd.) was the first airline of Portugal with scheduled international services. It existed from 1934 to 1953, ...

operated one F.VIIB-3m aircraft. ; *

CFRNA CFRNA ("The French-Romanian Company for Air Transport"; ; ) was a French Third Republic, French–Kingdom of Romania, Romanian airline, Portal:Aviation/Historical anniversaries/January in aviation/January 1, founded on 1 January 1920. Its name ch ...

; * CLASSA *

LAPE LAPE, Spanish Postal Airlines ''(Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas)'', was Spain's national airline during the Second Spanish Republic. History LAPE, often also spelt L.A.P.E. and colloquially known as ''"Las LAPE"'', replaced CLASSA (''Com ...

; *

Ad Astra Aero (Latin for "to the stars air") was a Swiss airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnersh ...

at least one F.VIIB-3m *

Swissair Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...

operated one F.VIIA and eight F.VIIB-3m aircraft. ; *American Airways, which later became

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

. *

TWA The Twa, often referred to as Batwa or Mutwa (singular), are indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa, recognized as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. Historically and academically, the term � ...

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

operated F.VIIB-3m aircraft.

Military operators

; *

Belgian Air Force The Belgian Air and Space Component (, ) is the Air force, air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force (; ). It was founded in 1909 and is one of the world's oldest air services. ...

; *

Force Publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; ) was the military of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo from 1885 to 1960. It was established after Belgian Army officers travelled to the Free State to found an armed force in the colony on L ...

; *'' Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske'' ; *

Czechoslovak Air Force The Czechoslovak Air Force (''Československé letectvo'') or the Czechoslovak Army Air Force (''Československé vojenské letectvo'') was the air force branch of the Czechoslovak Army formed in October 1918. The armed forces of Czechoslovakia c ...

; *

Ethiopian Air Force The Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) () is the air service branch of the Ethiopian National Defence Force. The ETAF is tasked with protecting the national air space, providing support to ground forces, as well as assisting civil operations during wa ...

; *

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...

operated one F.VIIA. ; *

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

- five F.VIIA-3m and two F.VIIB-3m aircraft, impressed into military service in 1939/1940. ; *

Royal Hungarian Air Force The Hungarian Air Force (, ), is the air force branch of the Military of Hungary, Hungarian Defence Forces. The primary focus of the present Hungarian Air Force lies in defensive operations. The flying units operate are organised into a single ...

; *

Regia Aeronautica The Royal Italian Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') (RAI) was the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Regio Esercito, Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was ...

; *

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

received three bomber aircraft modified from the standard F.VIIA-3m and designated F.VIIA-3m/M. ; *

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

operated 21 F.VIIB-3m (20 of them were licence-built) aircraft as bombers and transports between 1929 and 1939. ** 1 ''Pułk Lotniczy'' *** 211 ''Eskadra Bombowa'' *** 212 ''Eskadra Bombowa'' *** 213 ''Eskadra Bombowa'' ; *

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics () and Naval Aeron ...

, operated four aircraft in the squadron of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and other two in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. ; *

designations include Atlantic-Fokker C-2, C-5 and C-7. *

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, originally designated TA then RA ; *

Yugoslav Royal Air Force The Royal Yugoslav Air Force ( sh-Latn, Jugoslovensko kraljevsko ratno vazduhoplovstvo, JKRV; sh-Cyrl, Југословенско краљевско ратно ваздухопловство, ЈКРВ; (, JKVL); lit. "Yugoslav royal war aviatio ...

Accidents and incidents

*On 21 June 1926, a

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

F.VII (H-NACL) force-landed at Seabrook Beach, Sandgate near Hythe, Kent, due to fuel exhaustion caused by pilot error; all five on board survived, but the aircraft was written off. *On 9 July 1926, a KLM F.VII (H-NACC) struck ground in fog at Wolvertem, Belgium, killing both pilots. *On 8 June 1927, a Fokker/Atlantic F.VIIB-3m (NC55) of

Colonial Air Transport Colonial Air Transport was an early airline that flew between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. History It was established as Bee Line on 16 March 1923 and operated out Naugatuck, Connecticut; in 1926, the airline was re-organised in New ...

crashed on landing at

Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey Hasbrouck Heights (pronounced HAZ-brook /ˈhæz.bɹʊk/) is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 12,125, an increase of 283 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census ...

; no casualties. *At 9:44pm on 31 August 1927, the oil tanker SS Josiah Macy reported the last known sighting of F.VIIA '' St. Raphael'' (G-EBTQ) on a trans-Atlantic attempt from

RAF Upavon Royal Air Force Upavon, or more simply RAF Upavon, is a former Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, England. It was a grass airfield, military flight training school, and administrative headquarters of the Royal Air Force. The station opened ...

, England to

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Canada, piloted by

and Frederick F. Minchin, with

as passenger. *On 7 September 1927, F.VIIA ''

'' (NX703) disappeared with Lloyd W. Bertaud and J. D. Hill at the controls, in an attempted transatlantic flight from

Old Orchard Beach Old Orchard Beach is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,960 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. Located on the inner side of Saco Bay on the Atlantic ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy. The flight's last known location was in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

, 960 km East of

Cape Race Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", mean ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. *On 17 September 1927, a Reynolds Airways F.VII (''C776'') crashed at

Dunellen, New Jersey Dunellen () is a borough in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located within the Raritan Valley region of central New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,637, an increase of 410 ...

, due to loss of control following engine failure, killing seven of 12 on board. The aircraft was formerly operated by KLM, and had been imported to the United States. *On 4 July 1928, Belgian financier

Alfred Lowenstein Alfred Léonard Loewenstein (11 March 1877 – 4 July 1928) was a Belgian financier. At his peak in the 1920s, Loewenstein was worth around £12 million in the currency of the time (equivalent to £ million in ), making him the third-riche ...

disappeared during a flight over the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

as a passenger in Fokker F.VIIA-3m (G-EBYI), in unknown circumstances. *On 15 August 1928, a

F.VIIA-3m, ''General Machado'' (NC53) ditched in the Gulf of Mexico off Egmont Key, Florida. *On 4 July 1929, a Fokker F.VIIA-3m (G-EBYI) force landed near Mongalla, Sudan. Owner and pilot was Donald H Drew, three passengers included

Glen Kidston George Pearson Glen Kidston (23 January 1899 – 5 May 1931) was an English motor racing driver and aviator who completed a record-breaking flight from Netheravon, Wiltshire to Cape Town, South Africa, in 1931. He was one of the " Bentley Boys ...

, no casualties. Aircraft damaged beyond repair. *On 11 September 1930, a Sabena F.VII (OO-AIN) crashed on climbout from

Croydon Airport Croydon Airport was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located near Croydon, then part of Surrey. Built in a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style, it was developed as Britain's main airp ...

due to an in-flight fire, killing both pilots. *On 30 October 1930, a Fokker F.VIIb/3m (CH-161) of

Balair Belair, legally ''Belair Airlines AG'', was a Swiss charter airline headquartered in Glattbrugg operating out of Zürich Airport and EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg. It was a subsidiary of Air Berlin and operated under the Air Berlin bran ...

struck a chimney, and crashed in fog on approach to

Essen/Mülheim Airport Essen/Mülheim Airport , is a minor unscheduled airport located south-west of Essen and south-east of Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia. It serves the western Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the largest urban agglomeration in Germany. Airlines ...

; three crew injured, three passengers unhurt. See als
Commons Fokker F.VIIb/3m of Balair
*On 6 December 1931, a KLM F.VIIb/3m (PH-AFO) crashed at

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

after failing to take off, killing five of seven on board. *On 3 April 1940, a

BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the ...

Avro 618 Ten (G-AASP, ''Hercules'') crashed on takeoff from Cairo; there were no casualties, but the aircraft was written off.

Specifications (F.VIIb/3m)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bowers, Peter and Ernest McDowell. ''Triplanes: A Pictorial History of the World's Triplanes and Multiplanes''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbooks International, 1993. . * Dierikx, Marc. ''Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. . * * * Molson, K.M. ''Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport''. Winnipeg: James Richardson & Sons, Ltd., 1974. . * Nevin, David. ''The Pathfinders (The Epic of Flight Series)''. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980. . * Postma, Thijs. ''Fokker: Aircraft Builders to the World''. London: Jane's, 1979. . * * Stroud, John. ''European Transport Aircraft since 1910''. London: Putnam, 1966. * * Weyl, A.R. ''Fokker: The Creative Years''. London: Putnam, 1965. * {{USN transports Fokker F.VII F 07 1920s Dutch airliners 1920s United States airliners Trimotors High-wing aircraft F.VII Aircraft first flown in 1924 Aircraft of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear