WORLD WAR 1 AVIATION SUPPLEMENT

FOKKER D.VI SERIAL NUMBERS

 by George Grasse

I am a modeler who is frustrated when the subject of a model I want to build does not have a serial number.  At the time  (1914-1918) I would have required that the aircraft's serial number be displayed regardless of the personal whims of a pilot's aircraft markings.  Because that never happened, I'm disappointed by not knowing the aircraft's serial number.  So, I have three choices with regard to a specific model who's real life counterpart does not have a serial number:

1) go ahead and build the model anyway.

2) don't build that specific model

3) create a probable serial number

I decided on the latter with regard to Eduard's early 1:48 scale kit of the Fokker D.VI largely because production of this aircraft was small: 60 built with serials 1630/18 to 1689/18. I went through the process of listing each serial number and, after as much research as I could uncover, noted the actual serial number's circumstance.  This was a process of elimination in which known serials were recorded.

From Fokker Aircraft of WW1, Volume 5, 1918 Designs, Part 1: Prototypes & D.VI, page 124, twelve Fokker D.VI aircraft were fitted with the Goebel Goe.III nine-cylinder, 170bp rotary engine.  This was an experimental and evaluation process; however, no Goebel equipped Fokker D.VI were recorded or photographed in a front-line Jasta, so this twleve serials can be eliminated.  They are 1637/18, 1639/18, 1640/18, 1643/18. 1679/18, 1680/18, 1681/18, 1682/18, 1683/18, 1684/18, 1685/18, and 1686/18. 

Next, from Fokker D.VI, Windsock Datafile 84, by Peter M Grosz, page 10, describes the Austro-Hungarian purchase of twelve Fokker D.VI aircraft of which seven were actually delivered, the remaining were cancelled.  These serials are recorded as 1632/18, 1633/18, 1634/18, 1635/18, 1641/18, 1642/18, and 1644/18.  These serials are noted below as "Austro-Hungarian purchase".

Also from Grosz' Fokker D.VI, the early serials 1630/18 and 1631/18 are described, probably as prototypes and/or test aircraft.  In Photo 4, page 3, 1630/18 appeared at the First Fighter Competition at Adlershof in January 1918.  In the photo caption, Grosz describes 1630/18 as, "structurally it differed from the production machines".  In Photo 5 , also page 3, Grosz describes 1631/18 as the, "first production example( and true prototype) . . . at Adlershof during Typenprufung in April-early May 1918."  So, my conclusion is that 1630/18 and 1631/18 were used for the Typenprufung process.

1630/18 Typenprufung process

1631/18 Typenprufung process

1632/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1633/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1634/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1635/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1636/18

1637/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1638/18

1639/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1640/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1641/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1642/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1643/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1644/18 Austro-Hungarian purchase

1645/18

1646/18

1647/18

1648/18

1649/18

1650/18

1651/18

1652/18

1653/18

1654/18

1655/18

1656/18

1657/18

1658/18

1659/18

1660/18

1661/18

1662/18

1663/18

1664/18

1665/18

1666/18

1667/18

1668/18

1669/18

1670/18

1671/18

1672/18

1673/18

1674/18

1675/18

1676/18

1677/18

1678/18

1679/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1680/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1681/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1682/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1683/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1684/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1685/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1686/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1687/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1688/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

1689/18 Goebel Goe.III rotary engine, testing only.

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