- Fokker F.32
infobox Aircraft
name = F.32
type =Passenger aircraft
manufacturer =Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America
caption = A F.32 painted for Universal Air Lines System onSeptember 25 ,1929 .
first flight =September 13 ,1929
introduction =
retired =
primary user =Western Air Express
more users =Universal Air Lines United States Army Air Corps
produced =
number built = 10The Fokker F.32 was an
passenger aircraft built by theFokker Aircraft Corporation of America in 1929 in theirTeterboro, New Jersey factory. [cite web
url = http://www.dutch-aviation.nl/index5/Civil/index5-2%20F32.html
title = Fokker F.32/YC-20
site = DutchAviation.nl
accessdate = 2007-11-19] It was the first four-engined aircraft designed and built in the United States. Ten examples were built, but they only entered limited commercial service; their high cost and problems with the cooling of the after engines proved prohibitive. TheU.S. Army Air Force evaluated the F.32 as the YC-20, but did not purchase it.Crash
The first F.32 crashed on
November 27 ,1929 during a demonstration of a three-engined takeoff. One of the two port engines was stopped, but the other failed shortly after takeoff, causing a loss of control. The aircraft came down on a suburban house in Long Island and was totally destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire; remarkably, nobody was killed, although the pilot and a passenger was injured. [cite book
title = Long Island Aircraft Crashes: 1909-1959
author = Stoff, Joshua
publisher = Arcadia
id = ISBN 0-7385-3516-8]Power issues
The crash displayed the F.32's most notable problem; it was underpowered, which was made worse by the aircraft's back-to-back engine configuration, with an engine on each end of the underwing nacelles. The front engine powered a two-bladed propeller and the rear engine a three-bladed one. The after propellers, working in the disturbed air from the front, were inefficient, and the rear engines suffered from cooling problems. The underpowering problem was partially solved by replacing the prototype's
Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines with more powerfulPratt & Whitney Hornet s on later planes, but the other issues remained with the planes throughout their short service lives.Orders
Initially,
Western Air Express andUniversal Air Lines each ordered five aircraft, and there was interest from other airlines, includingKLM (Royal Dutch Airlines). However, despite the painting of a prototype for Universal, they cancelled their order, and WAE only picked up two instead of the planned five, largely because of theGreat Depression .Service with Western Air Express
Western Air Express were the only purchasers of the F.32, buying two of them. [cite web
url = http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac3/Airline/Western%20Air%20Express%20Fokker%20F-32.html
title = Western Air Express Fokker F-32 NC333N (c/n 1203)
work = Ed Coates collection
author = Coates, Ed
accessdate = 2007-11-19] They operated out ofAlhambra Airport inAlhambra, California and laterGrand Central Air Terminal inGlendale, California , flying toOakland International Airport (Oakland, California ) and other West Coast destinations.U.S. Army Air Corps trial
In 1930, the
U.S. Army Air Corps borrowed a F.32 for testing, designating it YC-20. Just as with theBoeing Y1C-18 , the aircraft remained the property of the manufacturer and was returned after testing. It was the largest transport aircraft yet trialled by the USAAC and would remain so until theWorld War 2 era and such planes as theDouglas C-47 .pecifications
Aircraft specifications
plane or copter? = plane
jet or prop? = prop
crew = 2 – 3
capacity =
** 32 sitting passengers
** 16 sleeping passengers
length main = 73 ft 1 in
length alt = 22.2 m
span main = 99 ft 1 in
span alt= 30.2 m
height main = 16 ft 8 in
height alt = 5.1 m
number of props = 4
engine (prop) =Pratt & Whitney Hornet
type of prop = radial
power main = 575 hp
power alt = 429 kW
propeller or rotor? = propeller
propellers = two-bladed front, three-bladed rearReferences
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