The Fokker Dr.I (Dreidecker, “triplane” in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the aircraft in which Manfred von Richthofen gained his last 19 victories, and in which he was killed on 21 April 1918.
Designer: Reinhold Platz
First flight: July 5, 1917
Primary user: Luftstreitkräfte
Number built: 320
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 5.77 m (18 ft 11 in)
Upper wingspan: 7.19 m (23 ft 7 in)
Height: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 18.7 m2 (201 sq ft)
Aspect ratio: 4.04
Empty weight: 406 kg (895 lb)
Gross weight: 586 kg (1,291 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Oberursel Ur.II 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary piston engine, 82 kW (110 hp)
Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller
Performance
Maximum speed: 180 km/h (110 mph, 97 kn) at 2600m
Stall speed: 72 km/h (45 mph, 39 kn)
Range: 300 km (190 mi, 160 nmi)
Service ceiling: 6,100 m (20,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 5.7 m/s (1,120 ft/min)
Lift-to-drag: 8:1
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0323
Frontal area at zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.62 m2 (6.7 sq ft)
Armament
Guns: 2 × 7.92 mm (0.312 in) Maschinengewehr 08 “Spandau” machine guns
Fokker, legally N.V. Koninklijke Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek Fokker (lit. ’Royal Dutch Aircraft Factory Fokker’), was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 the company moved its operations to the Netherlands.
During its most successful period in the 1920s and 1930s, it dominated the civil aviation market. Fokker went into bankruptcy in 1996, and its operations were sold to competitors.
