Fokker F.XX

Fokker F.XX
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Fokker F.XX at Berlin Tempelhof (1934)
Role	12-passenger transport
Manufacturer	Fokker
First flight	1933
Primary user	KLM
Number built	1

The Fokker F.XX was a 1930s Dutch three-engined airliner designed and built by Fokker. It was the first Fokker design to use an elliptical-section fuselage instead of the traditional square fuselage and the first Fokker aircraft with retractable landing gear.

Development

The F.XX was a high-wing thick-section cantilever monoplane with a retractable tailwheel landing gear. It was powered by three Wright Cyclone radial engines, one in the nose and one under each wing on struts. The main landing gear retracted into the engine nacelles. The F.XX registered PH-AIZ and named Zilvermeeuw (en: Silver Gull) first flew in 1933. It was delivered to KLM for services from Amsterdam to London and Berlin. Although the F.XX was a more advanced design both in aerodynamics and looks than earlier Fokkers, the arrival of the twin-engined low-wing Douglas DC-2 and DC-3 soon rendered it obsolete. Only one aircraft was built, and after service with KLM was sold to the Spanish Republican government to operate a liaison service between Madrid and Paris. The plane crashed in Spain in 1938.

Licence production in the UK as the Airspeed AS.21 was not proceeded with.

Operators

Netherlands

• KLM

Spain

• Spanish Republican Air Force

Specifications (F.XX)

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1895

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Capacity: 12 passengers
• Length: 16.70 m (54 ft 9½ in)
• Wingspan: 25.70 m (84 ft 3¾ in)
• Height: 4.80 m (15 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 96 m² (1,033.37 ft²)
• Empty weight: 6,455 kg (14,231 lb)
• Gross weight: 9,400 kg (20,723 lb)
• Powerplant: 3 × Wright R-1820-F Cyclone 9-cylinder radial piston engine, 477 kW (644 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 305 km/h (190 mph)
• Range: 1,410 km (876 miles)
• Service ceiling: 6,200 m (20,340 ft)

References

• "The Fokker F.XX". Flight, 5 October 1933, pp. 993–995.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1895