Fokker F.IX

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=F.IX


caption=
type=Airliner
manufacturer=Fokker, Avia (under licence)
designer=
first flight=23 August 1929
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=Czechoslovakian Air Force
more users=KLM,
CSA
produced=
number built=18
variants with their own articles=

The Fokker F.IX was an airliner developed in the Netherlands in the late 1920s, intended to provide KLM with an aircraft suitable for regular services to the Dutch East Indies. When the onset of the Great Depression forced the postponement of those plans, the market for this aircraft disappeared as well, although it did see military service in Czechoslovakia as a bomber.

Design and Development

The F.IX was a three-engine, high-wing monoplane of conventional configuration, equipped with tailskid undercarriage. The wings were made of wood, and the fuselage was welded steel tube with a fabric covering. When presented at the 1930 Paris Air Show, it won the "Grand Prix de Comfort et d'Elegance d'Avions de Transport" - the "beauty prize" as voted by the public.

Czech aircraft manufacturer Avia purchased a licence to produce the type in order to create a bomber for the Czechoslovakian Air Force, when it was decided that the Fokker F.VII that Avia was already producing under licence was too small for this role. By 1932, twelve were in service as the F.39. Yugoslavia also purchased two aircraft, as well as a licence to produce the type domestically, although this did not eventuate. The F.39s differed from their civil counterparts not only in the addition of bomb racks, but also in a defensive machine gun being fitted to either a ventral "step" or a turret. Avia also built two examples as airliners for Czechoslovakian Airlines as the F.IX D ("Dopravni" - "transport"). One of these survived into World War II, when it was impressed into Luftwaffe service (as "TF+BO").

A further proposed military development by Avia, the two-engine F.139, never left the drawing board.

Operational history

Even though KLM directors had been talking in terms of ten or more aircraft in 1929, the worsening economic climate resulted in only two being purchased. Due to the logistics implications of stocking spares for only two aircraft, these were confined to European routes and the two F.IXs only ever made one flight each to the Indies. One (registration "PH-AFK") was written off in a crash on 4 August 1931, and the other ("Adelaaf", "PH-AGA") was retired in 1936 and was subsequently acquired by clandestine means to serve as a bomber in the Spanish Republican Air Force during the civil war.

Variants

Fokker

;F-IX:Three-engined passenger airliner for KLM.

Avia

;F.39: Three-engined bomber aircraft for the Czechoslovakian Air Force.;F.139: Proposed twin-engined version of the F.39. Not built.;F-IX D: Three-engined passenger airliner for Czechoslovakian Airlines.

pecifications (Fokker F.IX)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?= plane
jet or prop?= prop
ref=
crew= Two (pilot & co-pilot)
capacity=20 passengers
length main= 19.31 m
length alt= 63 ft 4 in
span main= 27.16 m
span alt= 89 ft 1 in
height main=
height alt=
area main=
area alt=
airfoil=
empty weight main= 5,450 kg
empty weight alt= 12,010 lb
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main= 9,000 kg
max takeoff weight alt= 19,840 lb
more general=
engine (prop)=Gnome-Rhône 9A Jupiter
type of prop= radial engines
number of props=3
power main=360 kW
power alt= 480 hp
power original=

max speed main=
max speed alt=
cruise speed main= 172 km/h
cruise speed alt= 107 mph
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main= 1,150 km
range alt= 710 mi
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=

avionics=

References

*
*
* [http://library.thinkquest.org/C002752/fokker.cgi?page=techdata&record=10 Fokker, a Living History]
* [http://www.dutch-aviation.nl/index5/Civil/index5-2%20F9.html Dutch Aviation]

ee also

aircontent
related=
similar aircraft=
lists=
see also=