Russian Fokkers 6

In the spring of 1924, the Soviet Union ordered 125 Fokker D.XIs. All aircraft were delivered by the end of that year.

The photos show that quite a few accidents occurred shortly after they entered service with the Red Air Fleet. Numerous D.XIs broke their landing gear or rolled over on landing.

But there was more to the story than these photos show. Fokker had processed the massive order too hastily, resulting in numerous manufacturing defects coming to light in Russia. Mechanics from the Fokker factory were called in to Russia to repair the damage.

The complaints weren't unexpected. In 1924, a team of Russian quality controllers patrolled Fokker's premises to monitor the construction of the D.XI. Several defects were discovered then, but not always remedied.

During the winter of 1923/1924 a prototype of the D.XI (c/n 2100) was tested in Moscow in order to better understand the aircraft's characteristics before deliveries of 125 examples began.

There was a great uproar in Russia when it later emerged that the production model of the D.XI was not identical to the prototype. The prototype had been built with more precision and differed by a different, superior construction (which the customer only discovered when it was too late).

The boat was on, and the Soviets felt cheated. Because the Fokker factory wasn't paying attention, blame was placed on the Russian authorities who had initiated the order. But these gentlemen pointed the finger at the inspectors, who apparently hadn't done their job properly at Fokker.

Their chief, Eugen Gwaita, was arrested after returning to Moscow and imprisoned for ten years in a prison camp. The verdict was that the equipment purchased from Fokker, which he had overseen, had proven to be of disappointing quality.

The photos come from the Russian State Archives RGVA and the archive of G.F. Petrov. They were first published by Andrei Averin in the Russian modeling magazine M-Hobby (October 2021).

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