Snip (aircraft)
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The Fokker F.XVIII was an airliner produced in the Netherlands in the early 1930s, essentially a scaled-up version of the
Fokker F.XII The Fokker F.XII was a three-engined high-winged monoplane airliner produced in the 1930s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. Two aircraft were built under license by Danish Orlogsværftet. The first was powered by 347 kW (465 hp) ...
intended for long-distance flights. Like its predecessor, it was a conventional high-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Its cabin could seat 12 passengers, or four-to-six on seats convertible to sleeping berths. Only five were built, all for KLM, and registered as PH-AIO, 'AIP, 'AIQ, 'AIR and 'AIS, all of which were named after birds. Used by KLM on its
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
- Batavia route, the F.XVIII became celebrated in the Netherlands due to two especially noteworthy flights. In December 1933, one aircraft (registration ''PH-AIP'', ''Pelikaan'' - "Pelican") was used to make a special Christmas mail flight to Batavia, completing the round trip in a flight time of 73 hours 34 minutes. The following Christmas, another F.XVIII (registration ''PH-AIS'', ''Snip'' - "Snipe") made a similar flight to
Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...
in 55 hours 58 minutes after having been specially re-engined for the journey. In October 1936, the F.XVIIIs were withdrawn from the service to Batavia, replaced by the
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 ...
. KLM sold PH-AIQ and PH-AIR to Československá Letecká Společnost where they were re-registered as OK-AIQ and OK-AIR. They used them on their
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
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Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
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Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
route until 1938. 'AIQ then went to Commercial Aviation Corporation at Lydda, Palestine (now
Ben Gurion Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , commonly known by the Hebrew language, Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on outskirts north of the city of Lod and directly south of the city of Or Yehuda, i ...
) in December 1938 where it became VQ-PAF, crashing there on 13 January 1939. The wreck remained on the airfield until 1948 when it was taken on charge by the
Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...
but never re-built and it was subsequently scrapped in Israel. OK-AIR was taken on-charge by Deutsche Lufthansa in 1938 as D-AAIR. Its fate is unrecorded - probably pressed into Luftwaffe service and destroyed during WW2. PH-AIP ''Pelikaan'' went to Air Tropique, a front for the Spanish Republican government which used it as a transport during the Spanish Civil War. It was transferred onto the French register as F-APIP and was subsequently destroyed by a bombing raid at Vilajuiga, Spain on 6 February 1939. The two remaining aircraft were transferred to KLMWIB (''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij West-Indisch Bedrijf'' - KLM's West Indies Division) at Willemstad, Curaçao for regional services in the Caribbean. One of these was PH-AIS ''Snip'', later PJ-AIS, the other was PH-AIO, later PJ-AIO, originally named ''Oehoe'' ("Owl"), but renamed ''Oriol'' ("Oriole") since the Owl was regarded as unlucky in the local culture. These aircraft served on routes between Curaçao and Venezuela, Dutch Guiana (now Suriname), Columbia and Trinidad as well as inter-island services to Aruba, Bonaire and Saint Maarten. Routes to Jamaica opened in 1941, and Cuba and Miami in 1942. ''PJ-AIO'' was leased to the Netherlands West Indies colonial government in June 1940 and converted by KLM engineers into a maritime patrol aircraft for use by the Netherlands West Indies Defence Force. A single .303 Lewis machine gun was fitted on a flexible mount firing from an open dorsal position. The passenger cabin was stripped out and a bomb-bay installed consisting of racks to hold an unspecified number of improvised 8 kg (80mm) anti-submarine bombs aimed and dropped by hand from an open bombardier's hatch in the bomb bay floor. The aircraft was given a coat of camouflage paint and orange Dutch national markings were applied. No military serial was allocated. The machine was employed on anti-submarine patrol duties from both
Oranjestad, Aruba Oranjestad ( , , ; literally "Prince of Orange, Orange City"), the Capital city, capital and most populous of Aruba's eight regions, is located on the southwestern coast of the island. In Papiamento, the local language, Oranjestad is commonly r ...
and Hato, Curaçao from 1940 until 1942 when it was returned to KLM civil use, the anti-submarine patrols being taken over by US aircraft. PJ-AIO and PJ-AIS remained in service with KLMWIB until 1946 when 'AIO was broken-up at Curaçao. PJ-AIS remained derelict at Willemstad until restored as a museum-piece in the 1970s.Civil aircraft registers of the Netherlands West Indies http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_PJ-.html The forward fuselage section of ''Snip'' is now preserved at the
Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...
Museum.


Operators

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KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),
(5 aircraft. PH-AIO, 'AIP, 'AIQ, 'AIR, and 'AIS) * ''Československá Letecká Společnost'' (2 aircraft ex-KLM, OK-AIQ and 'AIR) * Commercial Aviation Co. Ltd., Lydda, (now Lod) Palestine (1 aircraft ex-ČLS, VQ-PAF) *
Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...
, (1 aircraft, ex-Commercial Aviation Co. VQ-PAF) *
Deutsche Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks second in Europe by ...
(1 aircraft ex-ČSA, D-AAIR) * Air Tropique F-APIP (ex PH-AIP Pelikaan) *
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 ...
FARE (ex F-APIP only military code BF) * KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf (KLM West Indies Division) (2 aircraft ex-KLM, PJ-AIO and 'AIS) * Netherlands West Indies Defence Force (1 aircraft leased from KLM, PJ-AIO)


Specifications (''Snip'')


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links


''Snip'' at the Curaçao Museum website

''De Vlucht van de Snip''
{{Fokker aircraft 1930s Dutch airliners F 18 Aircraft first flown in 1932 High-wing aircraft Trimotors