Fokker F.VII Querry

I’ve passed all this information onto my friend and we shall see how it fit’s with what he know’s. Thanks so much for helping us out.

A good candidate date for the event would be April 7th, 1931. An F.VII of CLS running the new Amsterdam-Prague line (it had started that week) made an emergency landing ‘just under’ Ter Aar (the Netherlands) due to engine failure according to De Telegraaf newspaper of April 8th, 1931 (the day after). Mechanics from Schiphol were roaded in to fix the problem so the aircraft could be flown out. Now, coincidence or not, a Gerardus van der Pijl ran a butcher shop in nearby Aarlanderveen, and he had a son also called Gerardus van der Pijl, who also was a butcher. They were 67 and 27 years old at the time respectively. The son was born on the address of Korteraarseweg 102, which to this day is in use as a butcher’s (Slagerij Van Harten, since 1930). I know the area well. It is extremely suitable for emergency landings, with long wide open fields, and is about halfway between Ter Aar and Aarlanderveen.

Actually ‘wing’. not plural.

You are correct of course, that was a typo on my part. It was also partly the reason that the Fokker types fell out of grace in the US after some crashes where the wing structure was found to be weakened.

It would help to know what his relative’s occupation was (Butcher? Ground engineer at KLM or Fokker?)

erricmunk- thank you for your updates. Will pass this along as well. My own sources of info is lacking in this era of aviation and my google searches prior to posting this inquiry were lacking in any help. So a big thank you to the forum for doing what it does best!

Defection is a modern word to use, in 1922 were there any closed borders? Why ‘defect’ when Germany has borders with Holland and Poland? If you wanted to get from Poland or Germany to Holland just get a train. Sounds an odd story for the time.

In between 1928 and 1935 there would have been several reasons to defect from Germany (Adolf Hitler coming to power in 1933 would have been one, for quite a large number of people from the German population). The Dutch border was a lot more closed than people think. The Netherlands saw the rising tension in Europe as a very good reasons to try and keep neutral, as it had been in WW1. It was not uncommon for refugees to be sent back at the border of the country in order not to offend any neighbouring countries…

The Fokker airliners used a mixed construction. Wooden wings and a fuselage of steel tubing covered with fabric.

Actually ‘wing’. not plural. Tip-to-tip was one wooden spar, under which the fuselage was hung. This made repairs after accident quite complex.

It’s actually OK-AAI, a Fokker F.VIIa, construction number 4918 or 4919. It was originally registered as H-NADF (or H-NADH in one source) with KLM on 10 March 1926 then sold to Czechoslovakia as L-BAAI on 26 March 1928 or 18 April 1928 depending on source, subsequently re-registered as OK-AAI (the perspective makes the O look like a C). It was operated by CLS (Ceskoslovenska Letecka Spolecnost) in Czechoslovakia, the forerunner of CSA, and this name can be seen beneath the fuselage windows. It was de-registered on 15 March 1935.
This aircraft can’t be associated with the defection story (why defect post 1928, just travel abroad?), especially given the dates of Czech airline service.

Correcting your information, using Herman Dekker’s excellent research into the pre-war Dutch aircraft:
– OK-AAI/L-BAAI was formerly H-NADF, not H-NADH. NADH was crashed in France in 1927 and recycled as spare parts in the build of H-NAEB (fuselage) and H-NADX (wing) by Fokker.
– H-NADF/L-BAAI/OK-AAI was c/n 4918, not 4919 (which was H-NADG/L-BAAH/OK-AAH).
– H-NADF was removed from the Dutch register on April 18th, 1928 following its sale to the Czech Republic.
– The aircraft also flew for the Czech air force, apparently.

Lynx815- Thank you for your help… We shall see where this leads upon discussion with my friend.
Thank you.
Neil

Nothing about the story at all. The rest of the info I found by Googling. The aircraft in the picture has no association with Poland so I believe the story and the photo are unrelated, reinforced by the differences in dates.
Defection is a modern word to use, in 1922 were there any closed borders? Why ‘defect’ when Germany has borders with Holland and Poland? If you wanted to get from Poland or Germany to Holland just get a train. Sounds an odd story for the time.

Thanks Lynx815 for the info.. Do you happen to know the details to the “defection” story? As with most stories that are handed down facts, suppositions and myths are all mixed together.. You’ve been most helpful. Thanks again.
Neil

The Fokker airliners used a mixed construction. Wooden wings and a fuselage of steel tubing covered with fabric.

Was the F.VIIa a fully wooden aeroplane or just wings made of wood ?

It’s actually OK-AAI, a Fokker F.VIIa, construction number 4918 or 4919. It was originally registered as H-NADF (or H-NADH in one source) with KLM on 10 March 1926 then sold to Czechoslovakia as L-BAAI on 26 March 1928 or 18 April 1928 depending on source, subsequently re-registered as OK-AAI (the perspective makes the O look like a C). It was operated by CLS (Ceskoslovenska Letecka Spolecnost) in Czechoslovakia, the forerunner of CSA, and this name can be seen beneath the fuselage windows. It was de-registered on 15 March 1935.
This aircraft can’t be associated with the defection story (why defect post 1928, just travel abroad?), especially given the dates of Czech airline service.