The strange flight of the Fokker F.2

Marcel · Jul 27, 2011

The fokker F.2 was one of the first passenger airplanes. With it's enclosed cabin it was a novelty in 1919 when it was designed. The Dutch KLM was very eager to purchase one or to. Unfortunately for them and for Fokker, the aircraft was build in Germany and because of the treaty of Versailles, Germany was not allowed to export aircraft. So a cunning plan was executed:
From http://www.dutch-aviation.nl/index5/Civil/index5-2%20F2.html

It doesn't often happen that a worker receives instructions from his boss to steal an aircraft from his own company. However, this was the unusual assignment given to Bernhard de Waal - friend of Fokker and an employee from the earliest days when he was sent to Schwerin in Spring 1920.
So that he would not be unnecessarily conspicuous, he arrived there in disguise.
From de Waal's initial telephone contact with the factory, Platz thought he was dealing with a customer.

De Waal introduced himself and said he had been instructed to fly the prototype of the F.II to Holland. Because export of aircraft from Germany was forbidden at that time by the Allies, it had to appear that it was being stolen. So while Platz departed for "business" in Berlin, three Fokker employees - Messrs Wichmann, Bolkow and Dungel - assisted with the departure of the F.II.

To make the whole event even more illegal, de Waal took the opportunity to smuggle out a German Gritzner sewing machine. This was at a time when sewing machines were very scarce in Holland. The take-off, made directly from the hangar, signalled the start of a bizarre flight.

On the way, engine failure twice forced de Waal to make emergency landings on German soil. On the first occasion he managed to restart the engine himself.

The second time however was rather more exciting when two policemen came by to check up on things.

In broken German, de Waal explained that he was Dutch and had become lost over German territory. Because the police were not normally faced with such situations, one of the officers departed to seek instructions from headquarters as to how to handle this problem.

Not wanting to wait for his return, de Waal persuaded the remaining officer to swing the propeller for him. He convinced the worthy official that it was necessary for him to test run the engine.

When to de Waal's relief the engine started, he took off immediately, leaving the dumbfounded officer stranded. This was not the end of de Waal's bad luck however. Landing near the Dutch Frisian town of Surhuisterveen, he broke his undercarriage. This time it was impossible to takeoff again, so he phoned Anthony Fokker who immediately jumped into his car and drove to Friesland. Here, Fokker saw his F.II for the first time, unhappily not in the best of conditions. The aircraft was dismantled and transported by train and boat to Amsterdam.