The Fokker Atlantic DH-4M-2
The De Havilland DH-4 was built under license in large numbers in America from late 1917 onward. Equipped with the Liberty engine, Dayton Wright, Fisher Body, and Standard delivered nearly five thousand examples. A similar number were cancelled after the war. Nevertheless, it remained the Army Air Service's most important aircraft.
Even after the war, further developed DH-4s were built in small numbers.
However, the wooden fuselage frame proved fragile. During his visit to the Netherlands in 1922, General Mitchell was impressed by Fokker's steel tube fuselages. This paid off a few years later.
In April 1924, a further modernization program for the DH-4 was planned. The specifications for this were tailor-made for Fokker. Industry bids were invited on April 30th. On May 15th, Noorduyn was already able to announce that AAC's bid had been accepted.
Despite not being the cheapest, AAC won the order. It consisted of 100 new hulls assembled from existing parts at the Fairfield Depot near Dayton.
The "new" aircraft were assigned the registrations of DH-4s that were already out of service. This justified the use of maintenance budgets for the assignment.
The aircraft were designated DH-4M-2 (Boeing was already building DH-4M-1s). The order was split into
- 65 scouts
- 25 photo aircraft (DH-4M-2P)
- 10 supercharged scouts (DH-4M-2S). (the supercharger was a compressor that forced air into the cylinders under high pressure).
In mid-1925 AAC received a follow-up order for 35 DH-4M-2T trainer fuselages.
The DH-4M-2s were assigned to virtually all major Air Service airfields. They were used intensively, with some still in service in the early 1930s.
Sometimes also as DH-4M-2A (for overhead lines) and DH-4M-2K (as a target tug).
One fuselage was fitted with new model wings at McCook Field and designated XCO-8.
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