Only remaining Fokker class plane from 1924 restored at Aviodrome

The only surviving Fokker S.4, a historic 1924 training aircraft, is being restored to its former glory at the Aviodrome. It is the only S.4 that survived World War II, making it one of the oldest surviving Dutch military aircraft.

The aircraft to be refurbished, with type number 108, was officially commissioned on Oct. 30, 1924. The single-engine teaching aircraft, then called school aircraft, hence the "S" in the name, was used by the Army's Aviation Department (LVA) before World War II.

Three yearsThe plane will not be restored to the condition in which it was delivered in 1924; instead, the choice has been made to finish half of the plane and leave the other half partially open. The restoration is expected to take about three years. A team of about seven volunteers will take on the completion of this Fokker.

Raymond Oostergo, collection manager at Aviodrome, explains: "The steel-tube fuselage and wooden wings are normally discussed covered with cloth and therefore cannot be seen. By not covering them completely, the visitor will soon get to see not only what an airplane looked like at the time, but also how the construction of an airplane from the early 1920s was put together."

Thirty devicesThis propeller-driven double-decker had two seats, with the instructor and student sitting behind each other. The LVA ordered thirty aircraft of the then-new model in 1924, half of which were delivered that same year, including this '108'. The second half followed a year later.

The aircraft were used until the outbreak of World War II in 1940. Some of the aircraft were written off before that time, another large part was taken to France after the capitulation and disassembled. What happened to them afterwards is unknown.

Germans not interestedThe plane to be refurbished at Aviodrome, number 108, was at the Fokker factory at Schiphol Airport in the spring of 1940. The then sixteen-year-old plane needed repair after an emergency landing. The German occupying forces had no interest in this relatively old teaching aircraft and therefore left it alone.

The fuselage was moved to Delft Technical College during the war and there it stood until 1960. In that year, the Fokker S.4 was added to the collection of the new aviation museum Aeroplanorama, one of the predecessors of today's Aviodrome, built at Schiphol-East.

RestorationsThere were two subsequent restorations. In the 1980s a start was made on the restoration of the fuselage in cooperation with Fokker, but due to busyness in the factory, this effort was halted again after a few years. At the beginning of this century, the restoration was continued by Aviodrome. During that period, among other things, both wings were built.

With this third round, the aviation museum intends to complete the restoration. Oostergo: "As many original parts as possible will be used, including the fuselage, complete landing gear, Mongoose engine, part of the metal plating and cockpit seats. The two wings built around 2009 will also be included in the process along with the skin plating and control surfaces that were newly made at the time."

ReconstitutedNot all parts are still available, Oostergo says. "Several pieces will therefore have to be recreated based on photographs or, if information is lacking, reconstructed based on examples of other Fokker aircraft of the era."

The aircraft is being restored in the back of the hangar on the grounds of the Aviodrome. It is not currently on display to the public, but that may change in the future.