Fokker F.IV

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=F.IV


caption=Fokker A-2
type=Airliner
manufacturer=Fokker
designer=Reinhold Platz
first flight=avyear|1921
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=USAAS
more users=
produced=
number built=2
variants with their own articles=The Fokker F.IV was an airliner designed in the Netherlands in the early 1920s, but built to the extent of only two examples, both for the United States Army Air Service. It was a conventional (though large for its day) high-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailskid undercarriage. The pilot sat in an open cockpit, while a cabin inside the fuselage could seat twelve passengers. Before the aircraft had even been built, the United States Army Air Service had bought two examples during a promotional visit to the country by Anthony Fokker. Built at Fokker's factory at Veere and flight-tested by Anthony Fokker himself, the two aircraft were crated up and shipped to the United States where they were erected at McCook Field and given the designation T-2. Despite Fokker's hopes that increasing airline passenger numbers would create interest in aircraft of larger seating capacity, the F.IV was too large for the needs of contemporary airlines, and no further machines were sold.

Operational history

One of the T.2s was used for a number of long distance flights over the next few years, culminating in the first non-stop transcontinental flight across the United States, an idea that originated with Lt Oakley Kelly, one of the T-2's test pilots. The Army agreed to let Kelly have the aircraft specially modified to carry more fuel, and to install a connecting doorway between the cabin and cockpit so that he and fellow test-pilot Lt John Macready could take turns flying and resting. An extra set of controls was also installed to facilitate the handover from one pilot to the other. As modified, the T-2 would take off with 620 US Gal (2,350 L) of fuel on board, making it 2,450 lb (1,110 kg) over its prescribed maximum take-off weight.

In late 1922, Kelly and Macready made two attempts at the transcontinental flight. The first was made on 5 October 1922, departing San Diego, California for New York. After 35 hours 18 minutes in the air, they were forced to abandon the attempt and land due to fog. This would have been a world duration record, but without a barograph on board, it could not be officially recognised by the FAI. Kelly and Macready tried again on 3 November, but this time engine trouble forced an emergency landing near Indianapolis after 25 hours 30 minutes.

The following year, they made a long-duration flight over a closed circuit over Dayton, Ohio, remaining aloft for 36 hours 14 minutes 8 seconds between 16 and 17 April. This established a new world duration record, but also a new distance record, weight record, and eight various airspeed records. On 2 May, they set out from New York to attempt the transcontinental flight again, this time travelling in the opposite direction. Twenty-six hours, fifty minutes later, they landed in San Diego, having covered 2,521 miles (4,034 km). Their aircraft is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum.

The other T-2 was converted into an air ambulance and given the designation A-2.

pecifications

aerospecs
ref=
met or eng?= met

crew=One pilot
capacity=12 passengers
length m=15.00
length ft=49
length in=3
span m=24.80
span ft=81
span in=4
height m=3.34
height ft=11
height in=0
wing area sqm=34.6
wing area sqft=372
empty weight kg=2,250
empty weight lb=4,960
gross weight kg=3,460
gross weight lb=7,630

eng1 number=1
eng1 type=Packard-built Liberty L12 piston engine
eng1 kw=298
eng1 hp=400
eng2 number=

max speed kmh=150
max speed mph=93
cruise speed kmh=
cruise speed mph=
range km=4,100
range miles=2,550
endurance h=
endurance min=
ceiling m=3,200
ceiling ft=10,500
climb rate ms=
climb rate ftmin=

aircontent
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References

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