Just over a year ago, in February 2019, we published a story HERE about ambitious plans to build an accurate, airworthy replica of the iconic, though all-but-extinct Fokker D.XXI. Coming together under the direction of experienced aircraft aircraft maintenance and restoration professional, Jack Van Egmond, within his hangar at Hoogeveen Airport in The Netherlands, the diminutive Dutch WWII fighter aircraft is coming close to completion.
As we described in our previous article, the Fokker D.XXI fighter was designed for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force, but a handful also saw service in defense of the homeland during the German invasion in May, 1940. While the prototype flew for the first time in March, 1936 and displayed encouraging performance, it only saw limited service in the Netherlands. Of the 148 examples constructed, 90 served with Finland, where they saw ferocious combat against the Soviets during the Winter War of 1939/1940 and the Continuation War from June, 1941 through September, 1944. Indeed, the sole-surviving complete airframe is a Finnish-built Fokker D.XXI on display at the nation’s Air Force Museum in Tikkakoski, Jyväskylä, Finland.
In total, 36 Fokker D.XXIs flew for the Dutch military, but despite their superior agility and the valiant efforts of their pilots, they were no match for the Messerschmitt Bf 109s they faced in combat. Germany completed their rout of Holland in just five days between May 10th and May 14th, 1940.
Of the Dutch Air Force Fokker D.XXIs, only the shattered remains of one example have survived. Luftwaffe Bf 110s reportedly shot this aircraft down near Nieuwkoop, Holland on May 11th, 1940. In 1993 a local group named the Crash Foundation excavated the crash site, and have reconstituted the forward fuselage into a compelling display at a small museum in Aalsmeerderbrug. There is also a full-sized replica on display at Nationaal Militair Museum located at the former Soesterberg Air Force Base in Soesterberg, Netherlands.
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