Reaching Uncharted Corners of the Globe in a Fokker F.VII

Ride along on a Microsoft Flight Simulator journey through history in one of the world’s first civilian airliners.

Patrick Chovanec

Friday, March 22, 2024 at 12:51 PM ET

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The F.VII’s fuselage was fabric stretched over a steel-tube frame. [Courtesy: Patrick Chovanec]

Key Takeaways:

The Fokker F.VII was an early and influential civilian airliner, developed by Anthony Fokker after WWI, initially as a single-engine transport and later evolving into a popular three-engine (F.VIIb/3m) variant for improved reliability.
This aircraft played a pivotal role in pioneering numerous long-distance and exploratory flights, pushing the boundaries of early aviation.
Notable achievements include Richard Byrd's disputed flight to the North Pole in the "Josephine Ford" (F.VIIa/3m) and Charles Kingsford Smith's historic first trans-Pacific flight from California to Australia in the "Southern Cross" (F.VIIb/3m).
Despite its widespread use, the F.VII's fabric-and-wood construction contributed to its eventual replacement by more robust all-metal airliners in the 1930s following safety concerns.

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Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 I’m going to be flying the Fokker F.VII, one of the world’s first civilian airliners that blazed new paths to uncharted reaches of the globe in the hands of aviators like Richard Byrd and Charles Kingsford Smith.

Anthony Fokker was Dutch, born in the colonial East Indies. In 1910, at age 20, he moved to Germany to pursue his interest in aviation. He soon founded his own airplane company there, and during World War I it designed a number of successful and famous fighter planes for the Germans. Fokker himself was an accomplished pilot. I wrote a previous article on the Fokker Dr.I triplane, which you can check out here.