Fokker Dr.I

Background

The Fokker Dr.I was one of the most famous fighter planes of World War I due to its association with the feared German ace, Baron Manfred von Richthofen. Many other German aces also flew this highly maneuverable plane, but the Red Baron ensured its everlasting fame. Construction of our copy was finished in early 2008, and it was publicly flown at AirFair 2008 as shown in this video.

Fuselage

The fuselage is of welded steel tubing, a construction technique extensively used by Anthony Fokker. This method of building aircraft fuselages is lighter, stronger, and safer than the wood frames used by Fokker's contemporaries.

Wings

Although the fuselage is steel, the wings were made of wood. Here again, though, Fokker was ahead of his contemporaries in that the wings required much less external bracing than other aircraft of the day. This picture shows the three wings stacked on top of each other. You can see the very wide box spar that allowed the wings to have no external wire bracing.

Engine

PFM has an 80-hp LeRhone engine for this triplane, so it will be powered by an engine very similar to the original.

More Information

Project History

The Fokker Dr.I website has some good information about the triplane.

Some detail photos of the PFM Fokker Dr.I