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Fokker first began manufacturing planes in Germany in 1912. On 21 July 1919,
Anthony H.G. Fokker founded the "N.V. Nederlandse Vliegtuigfabriek" in Amsterdam.
To commemorate Fokker's thirty years of aircraft manufacture in the Netherlands, they were
granted the title "Royal Dutch Aircraft Manufacturer Fokker" on 21 July 1949.
Until production ended after Fokker collapsed due to financial problems on 15 March 1996,
Fokker have developed and constructed over 100 different types of aircraft, both for military
and civil aviation. Design studies for Fokker's first airliner after World War II were initiated in 1950.
In 1951 Fokker received support for this study for "Ontwerp 271" and the
next two years were spent studying a variety of different configurations
before the decision was made in favour of a twin-Dart aeroplane with
pressurised accommodation for 28 passengers and a minimum range of 483
km with a capacity payload. On 1 September 1953, the development
programme for the F-27 Friendship started. Four prototypes were to be
built, two for test flying (F-1 and F-3) and the other two for static
fatigue tests (F-2 and F-4). The first prototype (F-1) was powered by
two Rolls-Royce Dart 6 Mk.507 engines and flew first on 24 November 1955 as PH-NIV.
The second prototype (F-3), which had a 0.91 meter lengthened fuselage
and the higher-powered Rolls-Royce Dart 6 Mk.511, followed on 31 January 1957 as PH-NVF.
The first production aircraft (F-5 c/n 10105), a Fokker F-27-101 made its first flight on
23 March 1958 as PH-FAA and was h/o to Aer Lingus on 19 November 1958 as EI-AKA. Until production of the
Fokker F-27 ended in 1986 a total of 786 aircraft were built, including
206 manufactured under licence by Fairchild in the U.S.A. |
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In 1966, NLM (Nederlandse Luchtvaart Maatschappij) was formed as a subsidiary of KLM to operate domestic
services for a trial period of two years. On 29 August 1966, NLM started regular services out of Amsterdam
to 5 regional airports in the Netherlands: Eindhoven, Enschede, Maastricht, Groningen and Rotterdam operated
with two Fokker F-27-300M Troopships leased from the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Troopship PH-KFA and PH-KFB
were aircraft of the RNethAF, owned by Staat de Nederlanden and leased to KLM for the period 12 May 1966 until
3 May 1972. The number of flights at the Amsterdam-Groningen service increased over the years from 2 up to 5
times a day with a growing number of passengers. The NLM was renamed NLM Cityhopper and used by the KLM as a
feederliner. After the KLM decided to reduce the number of flights at the NLM Cityhopper route Groningen-Amsterdam
to two times a day, the number of passengers went down dramatically and finally the NLM-service
AMS-GRQ succeeded.
Fokker F-27 Friendship PH-SAD was flown first on 26 March 1965 as PH-FGO. On 5 April 1965
the aircraft was delivered as PH-SAD to Schreiner Airways, a joint venture of Schreiner
Aero Contractors and van Ommeren. On 1 December 1967, after the defunct
of Schreiner Airways, the PH-SAD was transferred to the KLM to operate
on the NLM-routes. The aircraft was registered with KLM NV, Schiphol on
10 January 1968. The Fokker F27 was handed over to the NLM on 29 June
1968 and named "Evert van Dijk" on 24 November 1968. After the
Friendship was withdrawn from use by NLM Cityhopper the PH-SAD was sold
to Fokker Aircraft and registered with Aircraft Financing and Trading
BV, Amsterdam, on 21 November 1990. The registration PH-SAD was
cancelled on 17 November 1993, after the aircraft was sold in Argentina
and registered LV-WEB. After being withdrawn from use at Ezeiza in
December 1996, the aircraft was brooken up. |
Luchtvaart déjà vu
