Fokker F.VIII

Fokker · Netherlands · first flew 1927 · airliner

The Fokker F.VIII was Fokker's first twin-engined airliner, built to give KLM more capacity than its trimotor F.VII fleet.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, straight
E — Engines	2 × piston, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	Boxy twelve-seat cabin fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

High-wing cantilever monoplane with two engines mounted directly on the wing leading edge, no nose engine
Boxy twelve-seat cabin fuselage
Strut-free wood wing typical of Fokker's inter-war airliners

Distinguish it from the trimotor F.VII by the absence of a nose engine, leaving a clean glazed cockpit ahead of two wing-mounted radials.

Specifications

The Fokker F.VIII has a length of 16.8 m (55 ft).
It has a wingspan of 23 m (75 ft).
Its maximum speed is 140 km/h (87 mph).
Typical crew: 2.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Designed by Reinhold Platz in response to a 1926 KLM request and first flown on 12 March 1927, the F.VIII replaced the F.VII's nose engine arrangement with two wing-mounted radials, seating twelve passengers in a luxury cabin. Eleven were built, three of them under licence by Manfred Weiss in Budapest.

Variants

The F.VIII led on to Fokker's larger multi-engine airliners of the 1930s, including the F.IX and F.XII.

Where you'll see it

The F.VIII flew KLM's European network through the late 1920s and into the 1930s; no complete example survives today.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 5,024 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.