It was on my Facebook feed, but an image search found it here:...
From the film "Hells Angles" that I saw when I was a little bit younger. The D-7 is one airplane that I wish that I could have flown. What a handsome machine! I assisted Walt Redfern in assembling a Fok D-6 replica and I couldn't believe how heavy the upper wing was. No real external bracing and the spars were huge and heavy. The airplane flew well with a 145 Warner.
It's remarkable that the D.VI and the D.VII required almost no bracing wires. (Which is why I recommend kits of those aircraft to first-time biplane modelers!) In spite of that, they didn't suffer from the structural problems that certain other Fokkers had.
The Fokker DR.I Triplane was the first Fokker fighter with cantilever wings and steel tube fuselage. The only bracing wires were internal on the steel tube fuselage. What you see between the cabane struts are actually aileron control cables. A reason why they are so popular with replica builders. There are probably nearly as many Dr.I replicas flying today as there ever were at the front in WW-I. They maxed out at 171 in April 1918, 320 total were built back then. Von Richthofen's prototype F.I 102/17, Aug/Sep 1917. Note the gray/white tires since carbon black was not in wide use in rubber during WW-I. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The interplane struts were not needed because the wings were completely cantilever as designed. The German Air Ministry insisted on them prior to approving the design for operations. They couldn't trust the airplane as designed . The struts were thin plywood and offered little structural use.
Bob- The upper wing tended to vibrate without the struts in the first triplane, Fokker V.4, WN 1661, when test flown by Werner Voss and other German aces. The original V.4 was fast (200 kph) but the climb rate was not what was hoped for. On the next version, V.4/V.5, WN 1697, the wing area was increased substantially to increase climb rate and the interplane struts were added to eliminate the vibration, among other changes. They acted more as dampers than as structural members. The struts were used on all 320 of the preproduction, experimental, and production Triplanes. The wing strutless V.4 was sold to the Austro-Hungarians. I am helping write a book on the early Fokker Triplanes as we speak.
The Superbowl fly-by included the B-1B, B-2A, and B-52H. Lots of aluminum up there. Super Bowl Fly By 2021 - Bing video
Good info, thanks. I wonder if the plank wing and thick wing section had something to do with the vibration. Maybe a little twist or thickness taper would have fixed it. Both the D6 and D7 had thickness taper in the upper wing and as far as I know they didn't have flutter or vibration. It brought back thoughts of the 747 wing flutter that Joe Sutter fixed with two degrees of twist in the wing outboard of the outboard strut. Very simple and effective.
Bob- The Triplane wings were designed for efficient production and all three wings used the same ribs, cut where necessary for ailerons. One reason why they could perform flat rudder turns with little loss of lift since the wings had no dihedral and generated lots of lift even at huge yaw angles. The D.VII wings were much more complicated. The thick wing sections on both aircraft, adopted after consultation with Junkers, made both aircraft very forgiving during hard maneuvering.
All because of the generous leading edge radius and high lift sections . They fought a stall. WW1 Allied pilots spoke of the Fok D7 " Hanging on the prop while firing at them."
Bob- Affirmative, after allowing for overclaiming on our side, the Fokker D.VII likely shot down more aircraft than any other type, regardless of Sopwith Camel claims to the contrary. The late D.VIIF with the BMW D.IIIa over-compressed engine could act much like a helicopter with the huge props they were turning. Prop blast still made the pitch and yaw controls effective at very low speeds.
Yesterday over Las Vegas. Red Flag 21-1 at Nellis AFB is still going. https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2483034/red-flag-21-1-kicks-off-at-nellis-afb/ Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I flew in the first Red Flag back in 1975. Not as well integrated as it is now and we did not even deploy to Nellis, just flew F-111Ds out of Cannon and returned. The F-4s did not want to attack us while we were flying night low level. Cannot say I blame them. Fokker E.III with added spinner. Wing warping Eindecker. Ltn Werner Schramm, 21 July 1916. Obsolescent by then with Nieuport 11s and 16s and DH-2s superior in performance. Eindeckers were the first aircraft with machine guns synchronized to fire through the propeller with an interrupter gear. The N.11/16 fired a Lewis over the top wing, and the DH-2 was a pusher. Took a while for the Entente forces to develop synchronized machine guns. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Jim Appleby built an absolute replica of this airplane and was amazed at the agility and maneuverability of the airplane with wing warping controls. Brave men in those days!
Bob- Affirmative, I read all about Applebee's Eindecker back in the olden days. Aircraft like the Halberstadt D.II/III and Albatros D.I/II rapidly replaced the Eindeckers in the West, although they flew later in lower threat fronts. Fokker's thin wing biplane Eindecker replacements were always second rate fighters compared to the two above.
Bob- Romantic, but the Sopwith Triplane and Fokker Dr.I Triplane were never at the front together. The Sopwith Triplane was replaced by the Sopwith Camel (with two machine guns) before the Dr.I became operational.
We have a Dr.1 Triplane replica at our local museum, Owls Head Transportation Museum, that needed recovering. Found the top wing had a crack in one of the 4 spar pieces in the center section. Apparently the previous pilot had trouble landing the plane without ground looping it. That was fun to splice in a new section of spar and reskin the spar. Just put the wings back on the plane and everything lined up correctly so I guess we got it right. Hopefully the new designated pilot will do better.
The WW1 airplanes landing gear was positioned more forward so that more weight was applied to the rear . Full back stick ,then the tail skid could dig into the turf , slow the airplane , and gave it more directional stability. Put a tailwheel back there and operate from a hard surface and you have your hands full to keep it from swapping ends on you. I have seen some guys install a big wire scrub brush on the tail skid to affect the drag of the turf. It worked very well. I have flown several airplanes with a tail skid and your feet have to be fully awake when operating from a hard surface.
