Fokker Flugzseugwerke GmbH 1913
Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker; stockholders, all Dutch, included Fokker, his father, and contacts of his father. After negotiations begun in the spring of 1913 among Fokker, the German Army, and Mecklenburgische Flugplatz-gesellschaft Gorries-Schwerin GmbH (MFG) (the airfield society), agreement was reached that MFG would set up aircraft hangars at Gorries, the town of Schwerin would provide factory space, and Fokker would operate a flying school for Army pilots using Fokker trainers. Flugmaschinenwerke Jacob Goedecker supplied the trainers in pieces ready for assembly and, according to many, was their designer. Fokker appears to have soon had his own designers including Palm, Martin Kreutzer (who fatally crashed in July 1916 while testing a production fighter biplane), and Moser; in late 1916, the welder Reinhold became the designer of the famed Fokker fighters. According to1916FM964, after the move to Schwerin and a few months of war, several Berlin bankers took over and all Dutch capital was bought out; Fokker became a director and was one of the chief shareholders.
On 1 Oct. 1913, Fokker reregistered as Fokker Flugzeugwerke GmbH and officially moved to Schwerin. He contracted with Goedecker to supply 25 M trainers and the Fokker Militar Flieger Schule began in late 1913. By the end of 1913, Fokker's plant was designing aircraft and with the M5 of 1914, a mid-wing monoplane modeled on the Morane-Salune but with different engineering, Fokker was in the business of supplying fighter aircraft to the German Army. During the war, the factory at Schwerin delivered close to 4,000 aircraft; wartime designs included monoplane, biplane, and triplane fighters outfitted with an interrupter gear that enabled machine guns to fire past propeller blades. Other factories in Germany, Buda Pest, and Constantinople also built hundreds of Fokker aircraft. After WWI, the factory continued at Schwerin but in 1919 relocated to Amsterdam where Fokker established N.V. Nederlandsche Vliegtuigen Fabriek; a second factory was established in Veere, Zeeland, Netherlands.
Fokker became a German citizen 6 April 1915, his 25th birthday. According to Peter M. Grocz in 188WW1Aero43, by the end of WW1, Fokker had financial participation in many ventures including: Fokker Flugzeugwerke, Gebruder Perzina, Pianofortre Fabreik Nutzmann, MAG (Mago-Mobil), Flugzeugwaffen Fabrik Anthony Fokker, Fokker-Junkers AG (joint venture with Junkers), Flugzeugwerke Lubeck-Travemunde, and Motorenfabrik Oberusel (stockholder). According to SD, despite Fokker's relocation to the Netherlands, 1919, the factory at Schwerin, renamed Schweriner Industrie-Werke, continued production of Fokker transports into the 1920s, but apparently without participation by Fokker. Trains and box cars moved factory components to Netherlands.
Sources
- Fokker, a Living History, http://www.thinkquest.org/C002752/; 188WW1Aero41-48; 189WW1Aero33040; 1916FM; also, G120-121, 130
- Gunston, 2005, p172-173, 192
- SD126-127; 1920Dir28
| Organization names | Fokker Flugzeugwerke GmbH, 1913 (Fokker Werke GmbH for short). |
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| City | Gorries, near Schwerin, and Schwerin (near Baltic Coast), northern Germany |
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| Started aero | 1913 |
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