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Always liked the lines of that bird. With more power and a better airfoil it might have served longer as a front line airplane.Don't forget the Walfisch. It was perhaps the best two-seater of the war in terms of being able to fight its way out of trouble.
Always liked the lines of that bird. With more power and a better airfoil it might have served longer as a front line airplane.
It would be safe to say that the first 'good' airfoils were the ones that the people back then called "Fokker's Thick Wings". I am not aware of anyone else having them before Fokker but there might have been one or two out there. Many said that the fokker wings were detrimental to performance and would never lead anywhere. This is right in line with people saying that aerial reconnaissance was impossible since, at speeds above 40 mph a human being would see nothing but a blur. After the war of course everybody realized their mistake and now we have that airfoil found everywhere. As for the Walfisch, a BMW 185 hp engine with Fokker wings like the D-7s could have given it what it needed to remain active maybe until 1918.It could certainly use more power, but what plane of the era couldn't?
I don't know enough about the wing design to offer an informed opinion.
Forgive a gaming reference, but on RB2-3D it's a bitch.
Don't know how it compares to other WWI flyers.
You're right, I forgot about when the German Air Service insisted that Fokker and Junkers team up. I remember reading that it was after Fokker broke with Junkers that he started using the thick wing that Junkers had been developing.Junkers actually done the first research on the thick airfoil,, but took too long bringing anything into production.
Plus he insisted on combining it with his all metal construction, which the authorities were slow to accept.
Fokker copied the thick wing airfoil in conventional construction, and Hugo Junkers was pissed at Fokker forever..
Fokker copied the thick wing airfoil in conventional construction,
I think it's evident the original idea was not from Fokker, or any of his employees .
The Junkers J 1 first flew in December of 1915. Since Junkers had no aircraft production experience, IdFlieg mandated a partnership between Junkers and Fokker.
Fokker saw the advantages of the thick airfoil , and with his designers, Rienhold Platz among them, came up with a thick airfoil but in wood construction. Came up with the Fokker V 1, and V 2 , in 1916 and finally the V 4 which developed into V5, or DR1 in late 1916 or early 1917.
I think it's evident the original idea was not from Fokker, or any of his employees .
Hugo Junkers sued Fokker, the lawsuit was to drag on until 1940 before it was settled.
It wasn't just the box spar that made it possible, it was the box spar, in conjunction with the vertical depth of a thick wing that made a cantilever wing that was strong enough .
The fact that Junkers J 1 flew almost a year before any of Fokker's box spar design's managed a flight suggests otherwise.Obviously, but the lawsuit was about the use of cantilever wings, not specifically their thickness. Let's not forget that Junkers aircraft did not use a box spar. The lawsuit was actually quite complex and wasn't as simple as accusing Fokker of ripping Junkers off because Fokker actually paid for the design rights which included the use of the cantilever wing. Fokker's ideas and application for cantilever wings came from various sources, which independently owed nothing to Junkers at all, but for the concept of a cantilever wing. Fokker did this often, applying what he had learned from other manufacturers and applied it to his own aircraft designs. Part of the animosity Junkers expressed toward Fokker came from the fact he didn't like Fokker, the polar opposite in personality.
The anger Junkers displayed came after their meeting at Dessau, where Fokker asked to find out all he could about the cantilever wing, Junkers exploded and accused him of using his experience at Dessau for his own purpose, but an agreement was drawn up by Fokker's law firm in Berlin, with the inclusive use of techniques based on Junkers cantilever construction.
The fact that Junkers J 1 flew almost a year before any of Fokker's box spar design's managed a flight suggests otherwise.
That's a good question, Tom. From what I've read it seems petty behaviour and a mistrust of each others intentions led to ill feeling between them, they did not get along, but Junkers saw Fokker do well in the Idflieg competitions and maybe felt hard done by because of Fokker's success? That's a guess of course.But if he sold the rights to Fokker, what was the grounds for his lawsuit