Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker was born on April 6, 1890. Following education in the Netherlands, he went to Germany for technical training.
It was in an empty Zeppelin hangar in Baden-Baden that he built his first aircraft in 1910. With this braced monoplane, the Spider, he gained his
pilot's licence. In 1912 he founded his own firm, Fokker Aeroplanbau at Johannisthal, Berlin, but moved to Schwerin one year later.

During World War I, he built thousands of fighters for the German forces, including such famous aircraft as the Fokker Dr.1 triplane and the D.7.
In 1919 Anthony returned to the Netherlands where he set up a new company in Amsterdam. At that time, he was already renowned as an aircraft designer and producer as well as a test pilot. He had proved to be one of those rare and remarkable aviation pioneers whose successes resulted from a combination of airmanship, inventiveness, craftmanship, commercial insight and perseverance. Continue...

Return to Our Heritage - homepage