Fokker F.VII (Model 5?)
On August 7, 1925, at a meeting of the Board of the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, it was decided to purchase two F.VII aircraft.
These included an "improved F.VII" with a Liberty engine and a three-engine "improved F.VII" (later the F.VIIA/3m). MSN 4899 arrived in New York around September 8th, and MSN 4900 on September 21st. Both were registered for the "Ford Tour" and departed for Detroit on September 25th.
The single-engine aircraft made an emergency landing near Towanda, Pennsylvania, after engine failure. This meant its participation in the Ford Tour was cancelled.
Shortly afterwards, a second 'improved F.VII' arrived in America with msn 4909. It was demonstrated at the National Air Races at Mitchel Field, LI, NY on 8–10 October 1925.
After some time, both types were assigned a model number. For the three-engined version, this became 6, and for the single-engined version, it was probably 5.
It is not known whether the first two 'improved F.VIIs' also received numbers 500 and 501.
MSN 4909 was purchased in December 1925 for Wilkins' Detroit Arctic Expedition and only the hull later returned from Alaska.
Msn 4899 was recovered after the emergency landing and taken to the factory in Hasbrouck Height.
In June 1927, an MSN 501 emerged from that factory: the F.VII Jupiter 'Old Glory', destined for a flight to Rome. The fuselage of MSN 4899 may have been used for this.
Around the same time, a former KLM F.VII (the H-NACK) was also brought to America. It was sold to Reynolds Airways via Fokker and given registration 776. This aircraft was registered with the Dutch factory number 4840.
A number of F.VII/3m aircraft were sold in America (see Model 6). However, only one single-engine F.VII was built. MSN 5094 was intended as the first aircraft in a fleet of seven for Standard Air Lines of California. These were to be equipped with a P&W Wasp engine. Before delivery, this engine was replaced by the more powerful P&W Hornet. This aircraft was assigned MSN 617 in the Model 6 series in America. Its life was short-lived, as it crashed into a mountaintop in fog on March 29, 1929.
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