Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: BUG_EAF322 on July 26, 2005, 03:38:19 PM
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Had to share it
http://cgi.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/ibg/sn327007-bb.wmv
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uche uche pyro get in love pls.
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Fokker G.1A
Interesting to note that it carried 8 or 9 MGs and had a range of 876 miles. Max speed was 295 MPH - not bad for a 1939 design.
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I'd fly it.
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The military aviation museum in Soesterberg, the Netherlands has a full scale replica. Beautiful bird.
The G1 was quite advanced for it's day, bit it still used Fokker's tried and tested mixed construction (wooden wings with metal fuselage, but exact details elude me). I have an obscure booklet form the early eighties at home with lots of info, I'll dig it out tonight. This is what I remember:
Dutch pilots liked the D-21 more, it was easier to scramble and less complex. The G-1 was also only slightly (20mph) faster. The heavy aramament of the G1 (8 .0303 brownings) also made it nose heavy. Landings on soft fields frequently ended up with a G1 on it's nose.
Speed was decidely inferior to the 110 and 109 of 1940, but the G1 had to make do with Bristol Mercuries, The Netherlands did not produce high performance aircraft engines themselves. It's interesting to know that on the plans for the G-2 (planned successor to the G-1, never built due to the German invasion) DB 601's or RR Merlins were specified...
There is only anecdotal evidence on the G1's performance and flying characteristics but it seemed to have had a very high diving speed (dive brakes were installed on some aircraft) and that it was maneuverable.
The Dutch pressed some G1's into service with P&W Wasp engines, originally meant for export. They were slightly different to the Mercury engined ones and performance was slightly inferior. It seems that none of these saw combat, save for one or two reconaissance flights.
Most G1's were destroyed on the ground when the Germans attacked in the morning on the 10th of May. But even so, we only had a handful of them.
It remains the most advanced fighter of pure Dutch design and manufacture. Light bomber variants and reconaissance versions were planned and Fokker was hoping for export succes. This never materialized although some countries showed interest.
G1's that survived the German invasion or were still under construction at that time went to the Luftwaffe as destroyer trainers. Some photographs have surfaced, showing G1's in German markings as late as 1944.
One G1 even made it to Britain when a G1 destined for Germany was secretly filled with more fuel than specified by the Germans. The Dutch pilots who test flew this plane flew into a cloud and ended up in Britain. This plane survived well into the fifties and was used for (static?) experiments with radar. It was scrapped in 1954 or so. No original G-1 is known to survive.
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wow... i dont know how the dutch did it!!
what an incredible airplane!
its like they took a p-38 and made it even fatter and uglier!!!
;)
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The G.1 is a 37'design the 38 a 38'design
So it was there before the lightning.
:)
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Originally posted by BUG_EAF322
The G.1 is a 37'design the 38 a 38'design
So it was there before the lightning.
:)
True. Funny that a lot of design features are the same. Biggest difference in concept was that the P-38 was originally conceived as a single seat fighter (yes, I do know two seat versions existed). The G1 in contrast was designed from the outset to be a 'multi-role' aircraft, undoubtedly to obtain more export orders. The G1 always had a tailgunner as well, with a fantastic field of fire.
That having said, the P-38 was lightyears ahead in technology, airframe, aerodynamics, engines... pity that a small company like Fokker was lagging so far behind in technology. Luckily it rose from the ashes after WWII, with the manufacture of several generations of fighters built under license (Hunter, F-86, Starfighter, F-16) and their F-27 and F-28 small airliners. Sadly Fokker has gone bust a few years ago :( although some plans to resume manufacture of a small airliner still linger.