Fokker F.IX

F.IX

Manufacturer: Fokker Avia (under licence)
First flight: 23 August 1929
Primaryusers: Czechoslovakian Air Force KLM CSA
Number built: 18

The Fokker F.IX was an airliner developed in the Netherlands in the late 1920s, intended to provide KLM with an aircraft suitable for regular services to the Dutch East Indies. When the onset of the Great Depression forced the postponement of those plans, the market for this aircraft disappeared as well, although it did see military service in Czechoslovakia as a bomber.

Design and development

The F.IX was a three-engine, high-wing monoplane of conventional configuration, equipped with tailskid undercarriage. The wings were made of wood, and the fuselage was welded steel tube with a fabric covering. When presented at the 1930 Paris Air Show, it won the Grand Prix de Comfort et d'Elegance d'Avions de Transport - the "beauty prize" as voted by the public.

Czech aircraft manufacturer Avia purchased a licence to produce the type in order to create a bomber for the Czechoslovakian Air Force, when it was decided that the Fokker F.VII that Avia was already producing under licence was too small for this role. By 1932, 12 were in service as the F.39. Yugoslavia also purchased two aircraft, as well as a licence to produce the type domestically, although this did not eventuate. The F.39s differed from their civil counterparts not only in the addition of bomb racks, but also in a defensive machine gun being fitted to either a ventral "step" or a turret. Avia also built two examples as airliners for Czechoslovakian Airlines as the F.IX D (Dopravni - "transport"). One of these survived into World War II, when it was impressed into Luftwaffe service (as TF+BO).

A further proposed military development by Avia, the two-engine F.139, never left the drawing board.

Operational history

Even though KLM directors had been talking in terms of ten or more aircraft in 1929, the worsening economic climate resulted in only two being purchased. Due to the logistics implications of stocking spares for only two aircraft, these were confined to European routes and the two F.IXs only ever made one flight each to the Indies. One (registration PH-AFK) was written off in a crash on 4 August 1931, and the other (De Adelaar, PH-AGA) was retired in 1936 and was subsequently acquired by clandestine means to serve as a bomber in the Spanish Republican Air Force during the civil war.

Variants

Fokker

F-IX Three-engined passenger airliner for KLM.

Avia

F.39 Three-engined bomber aircraft for the Czechoslovakian Air Force. F.139 Proposed twin-engined version of the F.39. Not built. F-IX D Three-engined passenger airliner for Czechoslovakian Airlines.

Operators

Independent State of Croatia

Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakian Airlines operated two aircraft.
Czechoslovakian Air Force

Germany

Luftwaffe operated one captured aircraft.

Netherlands

KLM operated two aircraft.

Spain

Spanish Republican Air Force

Specifications (Fokker F.IX)

General characteristics

Crew: Two (pilot & co-pilot)
Capacity: 20 passengers
Length: 19.31 m (63 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 27.16 m (89 ft 1 in)
Height: ()
Empty weight: 5,450 kg (12,010 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 9,000 kg (19,840 lb)
Powerplant: 3x— Gnome-Rhx´ne 9A Jupiter radial engines, 360 kW (480 hp) each

Performance

Cruise speed: 172 km/h (107 mph)
Range: 1,150 km (710 mi)

Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp.88.
Weale, Elke (1985). Combat Aircraft of World War II. Simsbury, Connecticut: Bracken Books.
Fokker, a Living History
Dutch Aviation

Living Warbirds: The best warbirds DVD series.

Source: WikiPedia