Fokker F.III
Nowadays, one of the arguments for developing a new aircraft is that it becomes too small and the airlines want more capacity.
This was also the case in 1920, although KLM director Albert Plesman was quite satisfied with the F.II, he asked Fokker to develop a larger aircraft than the F.II.
Fokker’s designer Reinhold Platz got started with designing and came up with the F.III with a cabin for 5 passengers. It was equipped with the readily available 185 HP BMW IIIa 6-cylinder in-line engine.
The pilot sat in an open cockpit either to the left or right of the engine, depending on the engine type.
On October 29, 1920, KLM ordered 14 F.III’s. These were equipped with the 6-cylinder air-cooled Armstrong Siddeley Puma in-line engine with 240 HP.
The contract with KLM was signed and the first flight of the F.III took place in April 1921.
During the operational existence of its F.III's, KLM built two aircraft out of the components of earlier crashed aircraft. These two were equipped with the 360 HP Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engines, with the pilot sitting to the left of the engine.
In the autumn of 1921, the F.III, in KLM colors, was one of the highlights at the Paris Aviation Exhibition.
Incidentally, the F.III in question was not from KLM but still owned by the Fokker factory. This F.III later went to the Hungarian airline Malert.
The total F.III production consisted of 66 aircraft, which were built in Schwerin, Germany, in the Veere location of Fokker and in Amsterdam-Noord.
As with the F.II, the F.III was also built under license from Karl Grülich.
Besides KLM in the Netherlands, the F.III has flown with airlines in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Russia, England, Italy and the USA.
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