How a Fokker WW-1 plane was manufactured in 1918: Splendedly restored and colorized footage

Описание: This film is dedicated to the production of Fokker fighter aircraft deployed during the First World War.

Based on the number 259, which can be seen later in the film, the production of the Fokker D.VII plays the leading role here.

A preliminary note is in order, Google AI initially identified the aircraft as a D.VII based on this photo and the number. But subsequently Google corrected itself up to five times in response to the question "are you sure?". It then identified it as a Fokker D.XVI, then again a D.VII, subsequently a D.XI, and finally a C.I. At that point, the AI ​​gave up with "I don't know".

What follows is a fascinating story about the D.VII, but it is therefore not certain whether this is the aircraft in this film. It is 1918. Above the trenches of the Western Front, the Allies have the upper hand in the air. The German Luftstreitkräfte is struggling with outdated aircraft and declining morale. In a last-ditch attempt to turn the tide, a comparative test between various prototypes was organized at Adlershof.

One aircraft stood out head and shoulders above the rest: the **Fokker V.11**, designed under the leadership of the brilliant Reinhold Platz. After a few modifications by Anthony Fokker himself, this aircraft was ordered as the **Fokker D.VII**.

What made the D.VII so revolutionary? Unlike most wooden biplanes of the time, the Fokker featured a frame of *welded chrome-molybdenum steel tubes* with linen stretched over them. This made the aircraft unprecedentedly robust and relatively simple to produce.

The internal structure of the wings was still made of wood (spruce and plywood). However, because these wooden spars were designed to be so thick and strong, the D.VII did not require external bracing wires.

The motorization was equally crucial. Although many aircraft used the reliable Mercedes D.IIIa, it was primarily the *BMW IIIa "over-compressed" engine* that turned the D.VII into a bird of prey at high altitude. Where other engines gasped for breath in the thin air, the BMW engine kept performing.

The demand for the D.VII was so great that the Fokker factory in Schwerin could not handle it alone. In an ironic twist of fate, the competitor, **Albatros Flugzeugwerke**, was forced to build Fokker's design under license.

In the factories, workers toiled day and night covering the frames with 'lozenge' camouflage fabric: pre-printed hexagonal patterns that made time-consuming painting unnecessary. Despite the chaos of the war, a total of approximately *3,300 aircraft* were produced in less than a year.

At the front, the D.VII was soon feared. Pilots praised the aircraft because it "turned every mediocre pilot into an expert." The Fokker could 'hang' by its propeller and fire at enemies from below without stalling, a deadly technique in a dogfight.

The aircraft was so effective that it was the only weapon specifically mentioned in the **Armistice of November 11, 1918**: all Fokker D.VIIs had to be handed over to the Allies immediately.

Although the war ended, the D.VII lived on. Anthony Fokker smuggled trainloads of parts and completed aircraft across the border into the Netherlands, where they formed the basis for the Dutch Air Force.

The design remained the standard for what a fighter aircraft should be well into the 1920s: strong, forgiving, and deadly efficient. The Fokker D.VII was not just any machine; it was the pinnacle of aviation technology of the First World War.

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Music: "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines": a cover of the theme tune of the famous great 1960s film about precisely this early era of flight in the 1910s.
Source: Beeld En Geluid.

Note: There is a typo in the introduction text frame and end titles. Obviously this was the WW-I period not WW-II. So no need to flag this minor mistake in the comments.