Virtual Wings Fokker D21

The Fokker D.21 - A Brief history:

Development: The mention of the name "Fokker" was enough to put a chill in the heart of any Allied pilot during the First World War. Antony Fokker had offered his services as an aircraft designer to the Allies at the beginning of the conflict, but they evinced no interest. Fokker had then turned to the Germans, where his flair for aircraft design turned out a succession of very successful fighter aircraft. At the end of hostilities, the signing of the Treaty Of Versailles marked the end of the German aircraft industry for all intents and purposes, and Antony Fokker had returned his company to his native Holland. The world was weary of war, and turned to peace with a vengeance. Antony Fokker now turned his focus from warplanes to a new market - commercial passenger aircraft. Fokker produced a series of successful aircraft such as the Fokker F7 trimotor during the Twenties, his designs winning world-wide acclaim.

The advent of the Thirties brought strong competition from a series of innovative new designs, such as Douglas' DC series and Junkers' "Tauntie Ju". At the same time, the world was gripped by the Great Depression. By the mid-Thirties, Antony Fokker had left the company he had founded, and Dr. Ir. Schatzki joined the company as the new head designer. In an effort to re-establish itself as a manufacturer of fighter aircraft, Dr. Ir. Schatzki and his team approached the Netherlands East Indies Army Air Service in November 1934 with a proposal for a new fighter aircraft. It was a very conventional and uninspired design, but a robust airframe that was easily manufactured and maintained.

A single prototype was contracted for early in 1935, this prototype aircraft flying in March of 1936. It proved to have very pleasant flying characteristics, if somewhat underpowered. However, policy changes within the Dutch government cast doubt over the future of the D.21, as emphasis in both the East Indies and at home turned to bomber aircraft. Further complicating matters, Koolhoven Aircraft had submitted a proposal for a new aircraft, the FK-58, designed by none other than Dr. Ir. Schatzki, who in the interim had left Fokkers and joined Koolhoven.

Fokker began actively soliciting foreign orders, trying to find a market for their new orphan. Soon several governments were expressing an interest in the pleasant little fighter, including Finland, Denmark and Spain.

Finland, was the first to receive, and also first to use its Fokker D21s in action. It took delivery of 7 aircraft in 1937, and eventually bought several licenses to manufacture more of the agile little fighter at the State Aircraft Factory in Finland. Indigenous production would total 93 airframes, with improvements, the last aircraft leaving the production line in 1944.

This foreign interest served to rekindle interest at home in the D.21, and in 1937, after examining the first D.21 produced for a Finnish order, The Netherlands Army Air Division ordered 36 D.21s for home service. All 36 had been delivered by September of 1939.

At the same time, the Danish Goverment purchased two Fokker D.21's from Fokkers in 1938, along with a license to manufacture the aircraft. By the time war came in 1940, at least 7 additional aircraft had been manufactured in Denmark, and the type was working up to service in the Danish Army Air Service.

The Spanish Republican Goverment also evinced an interest in the D21, and bought a license to manufacture the aircraft in Spain. While there is a rumor that one Spanish D21 actually did fly, the factory producing the airframes was overrun by Fascist forces and production was halted.

In Dutch Service:

Dutch Fokker D21s served with 1st JaVA (JachtVliegAfdeling, or Fighter Squadron) based at De Kooy and 2nd JaVA, based at Schipol. They also served with The 1st JaVA, an army ground support unit based at Ypenburg, and 2 aircraft served with the Flying School at Texel. When the war began, the Netherlands stood defiantly neutral, and the NEtherland Army Air Division was charged with defending that neutrality against all comers, Allied or Axis. At first incursions were few, but as the defeat of Poland became assured, German and Allied friction increased, leading to increased activites by all air arms over Western Europe. Soon, Dutch fighters were scrambling several times a day to interecept intruders. After the Germans shot down a Dutch T8 seaplane in October of 1939, claiming that the Dutch red, white and blue roundel looked too much like the British and French markings, the Dutch quickly remarked their aircraft with a large orange triangle edged in black on all six positions, also painting the rudder in orange edged in black. As winter came and went, intrusions of Dutch airspace continued, Dutch fighters, including the D21, rising several times a day to meet them.

On the morning of May 10th, 1940, German forces invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, in a bid to turn the flank of the Maginot Line and invade France. Among the targets of the Luftwaffe that morning were airfields throughout the Low Countries, in an effort to establish air superiority early in the campaign.

Initial Luftwaffe attacks found some Dutch aircraft lined up neat rows on airfields throughout the Netherlands, and over half of the aircraft of the Dutch Army Air Division were destroyed before noon of the first day.

The Fokker D.21s fared a little better, most of the 28 operational aircraft managing to get airborne before the initial attack. Though greatly outnumbered, the D.21s performed well, downing several planes in the initial attack, and participating in actions throughout the day against the Luftwaffe. The action was not all one-sided though, as many of the serviceable machines were damaged in the firsst day's fighting. By the next morning, all remaining Dutch forces were pulled back to the north, the defenders regrouping around Buiksloot, north of Amsterdam. At this time 11 Fokker D.21s were operational, and over the next four days flew in a vain effort to stem the German advance. By the 14th, there were 5 operational machines left, though the Dutch forces were desperately short of ammunition! Several additional aircraft were repaired in the course of the day, so that by the time news of the capitulation reach them, 8 Fokker D.21s were listed as operational. Dutch forces then sabotaged the aircraft and airfield before surrendering to German forces.

In spite of the fact that the Me 109 had a 60mph advantage in speed over the Fokker D.21, the sturdy little fighter managed to make a good showing for itself, though in the end the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Luftwaffe prevailed.

In Danish Service: All Danish D.21s served with No. 2 Eskadrille, Danish Army Air Service, based at Vaerlose (outside Copenhagen.) By April of 1940, No. 2 Eskadrille had received 8 D21s, though some were still without armament and other equipment. No. 2Eskadrille was not yet operational when the German invasion came.

On the morning of April 9th, 1940, German forces crossed the border into Denmark, moving quickly to take the small country and immediately use bases there to support an invasion of Norway, all in an effort to secure the north flank of the Reich prior to the invasion of France and the Low Countries. The German High Command did not consider Danish resistance as a threat to the planned operation, and indeed assured their troops that they would be welcomed as liberators!

Not all Danes welcomed the Germans with open arms, but resistance was sporatic and quickly overwhelmed by the might of the German war machine. Elements of the Danish Army Air Service based at Vaerlose Field attempted get airborne as Luftwaffe units approached, but were quickly dispatched by the ME-110's of ZG 76 and ZG 1. As Wolfgang Falck, GruppenKommandeur of I/ZG 1 would later recall:

"I was ordered to take two staffeln to Denmark where we were to patrol in the area of Copenhagen and then land at Aalborg. Our other staffel was sent to Norway. The briefing officer told us that we could expect the Danish people to be 'very surprised and very happy to have the German forces liberate them, but if any planes try to take off we should let none escape'.
"That night my aircrews and I sat around discussing the coming 'Liberation' and I decided that we would fly as low as possible across the Baltic and then climb to 500 meters with the rising sun at our backs after we cross the coastline. If the Danes are happy to receive us, fine, but if we are to meet an enemy over Copenhagen I want my boys to have any edge I can give them.
"The next morning the weather is fine and we take off from Barth at daybreak. We fly low, low, low, not more than 5 to 10 meters above the water. It was such a short flight we didn't have to use maps - the beach loomed ahead, we crossed a road, then a rail line and as we pulled up I could see our target, the main (ed. note Vaerlose) airfield on the outskirts of Copenhagen. On the tarmac below were 10 old high wing Fokker reconnaissance aircraft and about two dozen (sic) Fokker D-21 fighters lined up in the morning sun, and they all seemed to be warming up. If they got into the air we would have our hands full - dog-fighting with a D-21 at low altitude would be no mean task.
"Just then I spotted one of the recce's taking off. As I went for the Fokker, now about 100 meters in the air, the others began strafing the now taxiing fighters as ground fire opened up on us. Firing both my cannon and MG's, the recce' burst into flames and fell back to the ground as I pulled up. I banked around and saw fire and smoke billowing up from the burning aircraft on the ground. So much for the 'happy welcome to our liberation'..."

(Page 14, Messerschmitt 110 Zestorer in Action by Jerry Campbell, Squadron/Signal Publications.)

Officially, the Germans did not consider this an invasion of Denmark, but rather a protective action, and the Danish military was allowed to retain most of its weapons, though the surviving aircraft were put into storage, including the Fokker D.21s of No. 2 Eskadrille. In August, 1943 the Germans confiscated the remaining Fokker D.21s still in storage. Their subsequent use and fate are unknown to me, though it is hinted that they served with Luftwaffe units somewhere in Russia. The fuselage of J-49, destroyed beyond hope of repair in the actions of April 9, 1940 still exists in storage at a Danish museum.

In Finnish Service:

Coming!

For More Information:

Dutch Warplane D21
Air Battle over Holland, May 1940