Fokker DVII Fighting Scout

Fokker DVII Scout

The DVII was considered by many to be the best single-seat fighter of WWI. It first flew in 1918, probably too late to help very much. The D.VII did not have the rounded fusilage or nicely streamlined shape of the Albatroses, it was an angular biplane but it had excellent high-altitude performance and good flying characteristics. The treaty of Versailles specially demanded the surrender of all D VII's; many of these were given to the USA, and Switzerland. Fokker moved his activities to the Netherlands, and continued to build the D VII. The Dutch air force flew some until 1926, the Belgian Air Force until 1931, the Swiss air force ordered eight new-built D.VIIs in 1928-1929.

Technical Details
The DVII was powered by a 140kW BMW IIIa in-line engine that gave it a maximum speed of 116 mph (188km/h). It had a ceiling of 19,000 ft (7000m) but it had a short endurance of only 1h 30m. It came armed with the standard two forward firing 7.92mm machine guns.

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Image From:
Photo by Jeff Friedrichs, used with his permission. This airworthy plane is part of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome collection.