Fokker V.40 sport plane prototype

cluttonfred

cluttonfred

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Hello, all. I am trying to gather information and/photos on the Fokker V.40, a 3-cylinder-Anzani-powered parasol prototype built right after WWI and based on the D.VIII "Flying Razor" fighter layout.

So far I have found only the same two photos and one 3-view, visible at http://airwar.ru/enc/law1/fokv40.html.

I also put together my own approximate scale comparison of the D.VIII, V.39 (a much larger prototype with a rotary engine), and little V.40 (8.35, 7.00 and 6.20 m wingspans, respectively)

I have ordered a copy of Fokker - The Man and the Aircraft by Hegener, which I believe is the source of at least some of this info.

Does anyone have any other photos, drawing, or info to share or sources to suggest?

Cheers,

Matthew
 

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I have this on my disk:
 

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In the book "Fokker Flugzeugwerke" by Peter Grosz and Volker Koos it is mentioned, that there are two
contradicting indications for this designation.
The first is the above mentioned light aircraft with an Anzani engine (photo from the mentioned book),
the other are two single seat parasol wing aircraft ordered in 1920 by the US War Department and dimensioned
for 300 hp Wright-Hispano engine. US designations are said to have been F VI or PW-5.
Dan's photo seems to confirm this.
 

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Great stuff, thank you both. Yes, I am looking for info on the little Anzani-powered light plane, not the later and much larger fighter prototype.
 
From what I could gather, there were two V 40 designations ... but not including the USAAC fighter. The first was an unbuilt project associated with the wartime 'Schleppgleiter' flying bomb (or, perhaps, was to be that flying bomb). The second was cluttonfred's sportsplane.

The US F VI seems to have been derived from the V 41 (which acted as prototype for the D.X fighter). My guess is that Fokker's 'F VI' designation was intended to suggest a commercial design - either because it was for foreign sale or, more likely, for some now-lost obfuscation purposes.

That US Army Air Service designation PW-5 simply stood for 'Pursuit, Water-cooled engine, 5th type'.
 
From Fokker: The Creative Years by A.R. Weyl, Putnam 1987 (reprint):
The light aeroplanes V.39 and V.40

Soon after the unrest of the early days of November 1918 Platz completed two new designs. Both were low-power single-seat monoplanes intended for sporting flying. Platz built them in the belief that there were people who liked to fly for fun. What he forgot was that people who are so inclined usually lack the money needed to buy aeroplanes.
The two new aircraft were modified Fok. D.VIII single-seaters. In both, however, the wing was fabric-covered. This meant that torsional loads had to be resisted entirely by differential bending of the spars. These were designed accordingly. The ailerons were simplified, being no longer inset but extending to the wing tips; their hinge lines were slightly skewed, and they had no horn balance. The elevator was also a plain surface; the rudder was balanced, but there was no fin.
Although basically similar, the V.39 and V.40 differed in size and power units. V.39 was the larger of the two, with a wing area of about 9 sq. m (97 sq. ft.); its engine was a Gnôme of 50 or 80 h.p., cowled in the same way as the engine of the Fok. D.VIII.
The V.40 was the smallest ever built by the Fokker Works. Its wing span was only 5.9 m. (19.5 ft.), the area 7 sq. m. (75.5 sq. ft.); its length was 3.94 m. (13 ft.). The V.40 was powered by an old 35-h.p. Anzani inverted-Y air-cooled engine, and had a top speed of 111 km./hr. (69 m.p.h.).
Both aircraft flew well, and were well liked by all pilots who tried them. The flight tests were done by Parge. Fokker seems never to have flown them, and it is doubtful whether they ever went to Holland. They failed to find a market and did not go into production.
A somewhat similar attempt to build a small edition of the Fok. D.VIII was made by Gabriel at Bromberg a year or so later. This aircraft, the Gabriel P.5, had a plywood-covered wing but had a plywood fuselage instead of the steel-tube structure of the Fok. D.VIII. It had a 30-h.p. Haacke two-cylinder engine and was even smaller than the V.40; its wing span was only 5 m. (16.5 ft.) and the length 4 m. (13.2 ft.). The empty weight was stated to be a mere 125 kg. (275 lb.).
Click to expand...

Thijs Postma in his Fokker - bouwer van de wereldluchtvaart, Fokker b.v. 1979, writes that the F.6 (PW.5) was a development of the V.37 armoured 'trench fighter' of 1918.
 
While I love the enthusiasm, this is supposed to be a thread about the Fokker V.40 sport plane prototype, not every D.VIII derivative. :-/
 
Correct, topic split :-[

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,31549.msg347956.html#new
 
Image from Fokker: The Creative Years
Another book, Nederlandse Vliegtuigen - Deel 1 - Nederlandse vliegtuigbouwers in het buitenland by Theo Wesselink, Dutch Aviation Publication 2014 has a paragraph about the V.40. Most of it gives the same facts as Weyl, but Wesselink adds that in 1920, the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control ordered the V.40 to be scrapped.
 

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