Fokker

As of October 2026 – A small jet touches down, the two engines sit at the back of the fuselage, and suddenly the tail splits open sideways like a beak. Once you have seen that, you do not forget it: that is a Fokker. Hardly any manufacturer name has written as much aviation history in Europe – from the triplane of World War I through the three-engine F.VII to the regional aircraft that shuttled for decades between Amsterdam, Zurich, Vienna and Düsseldorf. No Fokker has been built since the bankruptcy in 1996. That is exactly why every sighting today is something special.

Anthony Fokker: the “Flying Dutchman”

The story begins with a person. Anthony Fokker was born in 1890 on Java in what was then the colony of the Dutch East Indies and grew up in Haarlem. As a young man, he built his first own aircraft, the Spin. In 1911 he flew it around the tower of the Grote Kerk in Haarlem – a performance that made him known across the Netherlands overnight.

Fokker did not seek his big breakthrough in his homeland, however, but in Germany. In 1912 he founded his first company in Johannisthal near Berlin, then one of the most important airfields in Europe: Fokker Aeroplanbau. Production later moved to the Schwerin area. With the outbreak of World War I, the company became a central supplier of the German flying corps.

Fighters in World War I

With the monoplanes from 1915, Fokker brought aircraft to the front in which the machine gun could fire through the spinning propeller. The technology behind it is often attributed to Fokker alone; in fact there were earlier patents and groundwork by others. The effect was enormous all the same: Allied airmen spoke of the “Fokker Scourge”.

Later came two types that every aviation fan knows to this day. The Dr.I triplane became a legend through Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron”. The D.VII is considered one of the best fighters of the war. After the war, the Treaty of Versailles prohibited aircraft building in Germany – and Fokker drew the consequences.

A fresh start in the Netherlands and the F.VII

In 1919, Fokker returned to the Netherlands and, with the support of the trading house SHV, founded the Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek near Amsterdam. By his own account, he brought entire trainloads of aircraft and components across the border – a chapter that remains disputed to this day. In the same year, KLM also began operating. The two names would remain closely linked for decades.

In the 1920s, Fokker rose to a global brand. The F.VII, above all as the three-engine F.VIIb/3m, became one of the most important airliners of its time. Dozens of airlines used it, and pioneers such as Richard E. Byrd and Charles Kingsford Smith wrote record history with it. By the end of the twenties, Fokker was considered the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world. In the US, the company’s founder set up a subsidiary of his own, which was later absorbed into the General Motors group.

The decline came with all-metal construction. Fokker’s designs with wooden wings fell behind types such as the Douglas DC-3. Anthony Fokker himself died on December 23, 1939, in New York, at only 49. In World War II, the plants worked for the occupiers under German occupation, and by the end of the war they were looted and destroyed.

F27 Friendship: the turboprop that saves everything

After the war, Fokker rebuilt itself. In 1951, a new plant opened right at Schiphol Airport, and a second site was created in Woensdrecht. At first, military orders kept the company afloat: the S.11 trainer, the early S.14 jet trainer and licensed production of the Gloster Meteor and F-104 Starfighter.

The real restart in the civil business is called the F27 Friendship. The prototype flew on November 24, 1955, and in November 1958 Aer Lingus took delivery of the first production aircraft. The concept is simple and convincing: a high-wing aircraft with two Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops, a pressurized cabin and large oval windows, built as a successor to the old piston-engine aircraft on short routes. In the US, Fairchild builds the F27 under license. Together, around 800 were built – the F27 became the best-selling European turboprop airliner of its era.

It also flew in the German-speaking world: with DLT, the predecessor of today’s Lufthansa CityLine, with LTU and with the young Lauda Air. Today the F27 has practically vanished from scheduled service; the surest encounter is in a museum.

F28 Fellowship: the first Fokker jet

In parallel with the turboprop success, Fokker took the step to jet aircraft. The program was announced in 1962, and on May 9, 1967, the F28 Fellowship flew for the first time. It was built with partners in Germany and Northern Ireland. The first scheduled operator, from March 1969, was Norway’s Braathens SAFE.

The F28 established the basic pattern that shaped all later Fokker jets: two Rolls-Royce engines at the back of the fuselage, a T-tail and a tail cone whose two halves can be opened sideways as an air brake. That helps on steep approaches and short runways. By 1987, 241 were built. Today you see the F28 almost only in a museum or as a monument.

VFW-Fokker: the German-Dutch chapter

In 1969, Fokker merged with the Bremen-based Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW) to form VFW-Fokker. It was one of the early attempts to pool the European aviation industry across borders. The best-known joint product is the VFW 614, a small jet with engines above the wing. Commercially it remained a failure, with only a few aircraft sold. In early 1980 the link ended, and both sides went their separate ways again.

A short joint project with McDonnell Douglas for a larger jet also came to nothing in the early 1980s. Instead, Fokker concentrated on modernizing its two bestsellers – with consequences that decided the company’s fate.

Fokker 50 and Fokker 100: the second generation

In 1983, Fokker launched two programs at once. The Fokker 50 is a thoroughly modernized F27 with Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, six-bladed propellers and many small windows instead of a few large ones. Its first flight was on December 28, 1985, and in 1987 the first aircraft went to DLT and Ansett Australia. In total, 213 were built, plus four stretched Fokker 60s for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

The Fokker 100 is a greatly stretched and modernized F28 with Rolls-Royce Tay engines and room for about 100 passengers. It flew for the first time on November 30, 1986, and the launch customer on February 29, 1988, was Swissair. The biggest customer became American Airlines with 75 aircraft. In total, 283 production aircraft rolled off the line.

The costs of two simultaneous new developments were enormous, though. As early as 1987, the Dutch state had to step in with millions in aid. You can learn more about the engine makers behind the family on the pages for Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney.

Fokker 70, DASA and the fall into bankruptcy

In the early 1990s, Fokker looked for a strong partner. After long negotiations, Germany’s DASA, at the time the aerospace subsidiary of Daimler-Benz, became a major shareholder. At the same time, the Fokker 70 was created, a shortened Fokker 100 for about 70 to 80 passengers. It flew for the first time on April 4, 1993, and only 47 production aircraft were delivered by 1997.

The market had become tough. Airbus and Boeing pushed down with small versions of their bestsellers, and new regional jets with lower operating costs came from Canada and Brazil. A strong guilder made aircraft from the Netherlands more expensive still. Fokker posted losses. On January 22, 1996, the Daimler-Benz board decided to cut ties. Talks with Bombardier about a takeover failed in February.

On March 15, 1996, Fokker was declared bankrupt. For the Netherlands it was a shock: a national symbol, closely interwoven with KLM and the country’s history, disappeared as an aircraft manufacturer. The last Fokker 70s and Fokker 100s that had already been built were still delivered in 1997.

What is left of the company

Fokker has not completely vanished. After the bankruptcy, the Dutch group Stork took over the profitable areas – component manufacturing and maintenance. The division kept working under changing names, from 2011 again as Fokker Technologies, headquartered in Papendrecht. In 2015, the British group GKN bought the company; since then it has been called GKN Fokker and belongs to GKN Aerospace. Among other things, it makes structural components, landing gear and wiring harnesses for aircraft of other manufacturers, such as Airbus.

The maintenance division, in turn, lives on as the Fokker Services Group. By its own account, with sites in Hoofddorp, Schiphol, Woensdrecht, Singapore and the US, it serves operators, leasing companies and governments – with maintenance, conversions, spare parts and engineering. The former space division Fokker Space became Dutch Space and later went to EADS.

How to identify Fokker types in the field

The postwar family splits into two clear groups: turboprops and jets. With a few questions, you can classify almost any Fokker correctly.

The risk of confusion is mainly with the jets: the CRJ900 and Boeing 717 also carry their engines at the tail but have no split fuselage end. An overview of the whole class is given in the article Identifying regional jets; for the propeller crowd, Telling turboprops apart helps.

Fokker in the German-speaking world

For spotters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Fokker was everyday life for decades. In Switzerland, Swissair brought the Fokker 100 into scheduled service as launch customer, and later Helvetic Airways flew the type until 2019. In Austria, Austrian Airlines and the former regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways used Fokker 50s, 70s and 100s before used Embraer 195s replaced the fleet from 2016. In Germany, DLT was the first European operator of the Fokker 50 in 1987.

Fokker left its strongest mark on the Netherlands, of course. KLM Cityhopper operated one of the largest Fokker 70 fleets and also flew Fokker 50s and 100s. On October 28, 2017, a long chapter ended with the last Fokker 70 flight – the regional subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group has relied on Embraer since. Many retired aircraft from Europe then went to Australia.

Where you can see Fokker types today

As of October 2026: if you want to see an active Fokker, you need a willingness to travel, good tracking data or luck. The fleets are shrinking, spare parts are getting scarcer, and operators are switching to younger types.

For Central Europe, the Aviodrome is the first address. The museum goes back to a foundation that KLM and Fokker co-founded in 1955 and shows the company history more densely than any other place. If you want to tick off a flying Fokker, you will find strategies in the article Spotting rare aircraft, and with Tracking aircraft by registration you keep individual aircraft in view.

Photo tips for Fokker aircraft

With the jets, the moment right after touchdown is worth it: then the tail flaps spread, and exactly this detail makes a Fokker photo unmistakable. A vantage point beside the runway, somewhat behind the touchdown point, is ideal for that. Because Fokker jets sit low on their landing gear, pictures from eye level on the apron often look especially compact – tips on landing gear geometry are in the article Landing gear as an identifying feature.

For the F27 and Fokker 50, the classic propeller rule applies: shutter speeds that are too short freeze the blades, and the aircraft looks parked. Slightly longer speeds show a nice propeller disc. How to find the right value is explained in the guide Photographing propellers. In the museum, on the other hand, a wide-angle lens pays off: halls are tight, and details such as landing gear, cockpit windows and engine nacelles make the difference between the generations visible.

Conclusion

Fokker stands for over 80 years of aircraft building: from the triplane of World War I through the F.VII, which conquered the world in the 1920s, to the F27, F28, Fokker 50, 70 and 100, which shaped European regional traffic. High development costs, overpowering competition and the withdrawal of Daimler-Benz ended this story in 1996. The name lives on at suppliers and service providers; new aircraft are no longer built.

For you as a spotter, that means: determine the powerplant, count the propeller blades, look at the tail – with that you classify almost any Fokker. The active aircraft become fewer every year, so a Fokker 70 or 100 on approach is already a trophy today. And if you want to see the whole family at once, go to Lelystad.