DAVID HORN COLLECTION
No. 9428. Fokker S.I TW-4 (68576) US Army Air Service
Source unknown

Fokker S.I TW-4

11/30/2009. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Immediately after WW I, Fokker's Chief Designer Reinhold Platz at the Fokker factory at Schwerin, Germany, designed this two-seat trainer in the side-by-side configuration as he thought this would be better for demonstrating control movements than the conventional tandem arrangement, while the parasol wing arrangement combined stability with an unobstructed field of downward vision.

The prototype was test flown by test pilot Adolf Parge at Schwerin early in 1919, fitted with a 75 hp Mercedes six-cylinder engine of 1913 vintage with a flat, square nose radiator. It was later taken to the Fokker factory at Schiphol, near Amsterdam, the Netherland, where it was painted green. It was flown a good deal at Schiphol until it was crashed by test pilot Emil Meinecke in October 1921 while attempting an emergency landing.

The V.43 was resuscitated as the Fokker S.I with modern liquid-cooled engines of 80 to 90 hp, and in 1922 Fokker took to the USA an S.I with a 90 hp Curtiss OX-5 engine. The USAAS bought it and gave it the designation TW-4, s/n 68576. In certain aspects it resembled the Fokker F.VI (bought by the USAAS as PW-5); in particular, its upper longerons were cranked upwards behind the cockpit.

With the Project Number "P-245", the Fokker TW-4 was tested by the McCook Field Engineering Division of the USAAS, the report was critical of the aircraft's taxiing characteristics:

Created November 30, 2009