article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message fokker industry aerospace fate bankruptcy successor stork b.v. founded 22 february 1912 defunct 15 march 1996 headquarters amsterdam netherlands key people anthony fokker reinhold platz walter rethel products commercial airliners military aircraft website www.fokker.com fokker was a dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder anthony fokker . the company operated under several different names starting out in 1912 in schwerin germany moving to the netherlands in 1919 . during its most successful period in the 1920s and 1930s it dominated the civil aviation market . fokker went into bankruptcy in 1996 and its operations were sold to competitors . contents 1 history 1.1 fokker in germany 1.2 world war i 1.3 return to the netherlands 1.4 1920s and 30s fokker s glory period 1.5 world war ii 1.6 post world war ii rebuilding 1.7 aerospace 1.8 fokker 50 fokker 100 and fokker 70 1.9 bankruptcy 2 famous fokker aircraft and pilots 3 fokker aircraft 3.1 1912 1918 3.2 1919 1940 3.3 fokker atlantic designs 3.4 1945 1996 4 references 4.1 notes 4.2 bibliography 5 external links history edit fokker s first airplane the spin spider 1910 fokker in germany edit at age 20 while studying in germany anthony fokker built his initial aircraft the spin spider the first dutch built plane to fly in his home country . taking advantage of better opportunities in germany he moved to berlin where in 1912 he founded his first company fokker aeroplanbau later moving to the g rries suburb just southwest of schwerin at 53 36 45.90 n 11 22 31.60 e 53.6127500 n 11.3754444 e 53.6127500 ; 11.3754444 where the current company was founded as fokker aviatik gmbh on 12 february 1912 . 1 world war i edit fokker capitalized on having sold several fokker spin monoplanes to the german government and set up a factory in germany to supply the german army . his first new design for the germans to be produced in any numbers was the fokker m. 5 which was little more than a copy of the morane saulnier g built with steel tube instead of wood for the fuselage and with minor alterations to the outline of the rudder and undercarriage and a new aerofoil section . 2 when it was realized that arming these scouts with a machine gun firing through the propeller was desirable fokker developed a synchronization gear similar to that patented by franz schneider . 3 fokker eindecker in flight fitted with a developed version of this gear the m. 5 became the fokker eindecker which due to its revolutionary armament became one of the most feared aircraft over the western front its introduction leading to a period of german air superiority known as the fokker scourge until the balance was restored by aircraft such as the nieuport 11 and airco dh .2 . during world war i fokker engineers were working on the fokker leimberger an externally powered 12 barrel gatling gun in the 7.92 57mm round claimed to be capable of firing over 7200 round per minute . 4 later in the war after the fokker d.v had failed to gain acceptance with the luftstreitkr fte the last design by earlier chief designer martin kreutzer the german government forced fokker for their aircraft production expertise and junkers for their pioneering all metal airframe construction techniques and advanced design concepts to cooperate more closely which resulted in the foundation of the junkers fokker aktiengesellschaft or jfa on 20 october 1917 . as this partnership proved to be troublesome it was eventually dissolved again . by then former fokker welder and new designer reinhold platz who had taken the late martin kreutzer s place with the firm had adapted some of prof. junkers design concepts that resulted in a visual similarity between the aircraft of those two manufacturers during the next decade . some of the noteworthy types produced by fokker during the second half of the war all designed primarily by herr platz included the fokker d.vi fokker dr.i dreidecker one mount of the red baron fokker d.vii the only aircraft ever referred to directly in a treaty all dvii s were singled out for handover to the allies in their terms of the armistice agreement and the fokker d.viii . return to the netherlands edit in 1919 fokker owing large sums in back taxes including 14 250 000 marks of income tax 5 returned to the netherlands and founded a new company near amsterdam with the support of steenkolen handels vereniging now known as shv holdings . he chose the name nederlandse vliegtuigenfabriek dutch aircraft factory to conceal the fokker brand because of his wwi involvement . despite the strict disarmament conditions in the treaty of versailles fokker did not return home empty handed . in 1919 he arranged an export permit and brought six entire trains of parts and 180 types of aircraft across the dutch german border among them 117 fokker c.is d.viis and d.viiis . this initial stock enabled him to set up shop quickly . after his company s relocation many fokker c.i and c.iv military airplanes were delivered to russia romania and the still clandestine german air force . success came on the commercial market too with the development of the fokker f.vii a high winged aircraft capable of taking on various types of engines . fokker continued to design and build military aircraft delivering planes to the dutch air force . foreign military customers eventually included finland sweden denmark norway switzerland hungary and italy . these countries bought substantial numbers of the fokker c.v reconnaissance aircraft which became fokker s main success in the late 1920s and early 1930s . 1920s and 30s fokker s glory period edit fokker f.vii in the 1920s fokker entered its glory years becoming the world s largest aircraft manufacturer by the late 1920s . its greatest success was the 1925 f.viia 3m trimotor passenger aircraft which was used by 54 airline companies worldwide and captured 40 % of the american market in 1936 . it shared the european market with the junkers all metal aircraft but dominated the american market until the arrival of the ford trimotor which copied the aerodynamic features of the fokker f.vii and junkers structural concepts . a serious blow to fokker s reputation came after the 1931 twa flight 599 disaster in kansas when it became known that the crash was caused by a structural failure caused by wood rot . notre dame legendary football coach knute rockne was among the fatalities prompting extensive media coverage and technical investigation . as a result all fokkers were grounded in the usa along with many other types that had copied fokker s wings . in 1923 anthony fokker moved to the united states where in 1927 he established an american branch of his company the atlantic aircraft corporation which was renamed the fokker aircraft corporation of america . in 1930 this company merged with general motors corporation and the company s name became general aviation manufacturing corporation which in turn merged with north american aviation and was divested by gm in 1948 . in 1931 discontented at being totally subordinate to gm management fokker resigned . on december 23 1939 he died in new york city . world war ii edit at the outset of world war ii the few g.is and d.xxis of the dutch air force were able to score a respectable number of victories against the luftwaffe but many were destroyed on the ground before they could be used . the fokker factories were confiscated by the germans and were used to build b cker b 181 bestmann trainers and parts for the junkers ju 52 transport . at the end of the war the factories were completely stripped by the germans and destroyed by allied bombing . post world war ii rebuilding edit fokker built gloster meteor of the belgian air force in 1955 rebuilding after the war proved difficult . the market was flooded with cheap surplus planes from the war . the company cautiously started building gliders and autobuses and converting dakota transport planes to civilian versions . a few f25s were built . nevertheless the s 11 trainer was a success being purchased by several air forces . the s 14 machtrainer became one of the first jet trainers and although not an export success it served for over a decade with the royal netherlands air force . a new factory was built next to schiphol airport near amsterdam in 1951 . a number of military planes were built there under license among them the gloster meteor twin jet fighter and lockheed s f 104 starfighter . a second production and maintenance facility was established at woensdrecht . the fokker f 27 turboprop airliner in 1958 the f 27 friendship was introduced fokker s most successful postwar airliner . the dutch government contributed 27 million guilders to its development . powered by the rolls royce dart it became the world s best selling turboprop airliner reaching almost 800 units sold by 1986 including 206 under license by fairchild . also a military version of the f 27 the f 27 troopship was built . in 1962 the f 27 was followed by the f 28 fellowship . until production stopped in 1987 a total of 241 were built in various versions . both an f 27 and later an f 28 served with the dutch royal flight prince bernhard himself being a pilot . in 1969 fokker agreed to an alliance with bremen based vereinigte flugtechnische werke under control of a transnational holding company . they collaborated on an unsuccessful regional jetliner the vfw 614 of which only 19 were sold . this collaboration ended in early 1980 . a fokker assembled royal netherlands air force f 16 arrives for the royal international air tattoo england 2014 fokker was one of the main partners in the f 16 fighting falcon consortium european participating air forces which was responsible for the production of these fighters for the belgian danish dutch and norwegian air forces . it consisted of companies and government agencies from these four countries and the united states . f 16s were assembled at fokker and at sabca in belgium with parts from the five countries involved . in 1986 fokker released the title song fokker on the wing 6 to promote the company s work on the fokker 50 and 100 aircraft . the song talks about fokker knows how to build aircraft builds you wings to sail the sky and on our way to new horizons . the song is now famous and is used in many fokker promotions and advertisements . it was sung by toon vieijra . aerospace edit in 1967 fokker started a modest space division building parts for european satellites . a major advance came in 1968 when fokker developed the first dutch satellite the astronomical netherlands satellite together with philips and dutch universities . this was followed by a second major satellite project iras successfully launched in 1983 . the european space agency in june 1974 named a consortium headed by erno vfw fokker gmbh to build pressurized modules for spacelab . subsequently fokker contributed to many european satellite projects as well as to the ariane rocket in its various models . together with a russian contractor they developed the huge parachute system for the ariane 5 rocket boosters which would allow the boosters to return to earth safely and be reused . the space division became more and more independent until just before fokker s bankruptcy in 1996 it became a fully stand alone corporation known successively as fokker space and systems fokker space and dutch space . on 1 january 2006