The Fokker Dr.I was one of the most famous fighter planes of World War I due to its association with the feared German ace, Baron Manfred von Richthofen. Many other German aces also flew this highly maneuverable plane, but the Red Baron ensured its everlasting fame. Construction of our copy was finished in early 2008, and it was publicly flown at AirFair 2008.
The fuselage is of welded steel tubing, a construction technique extensively used by Anthony Fokker. This method of building aircraft fuselages is lighter, stronger, and safer than the wood frames used by Fokker's contemporaries.
Although the fuselage is steel, the
wings were made of wood. Here again, though, Fokker was ahead
of his contemporaries in that the wings required much less
external bracing than other aircraft of the day. This picture
shows the three wings stacked on top of each other. You can see
the very wide box spar that allowed the wings to have no
external wire bracing.
VAHF has an 80-hp LeRhone engine for this triplane, so it will be powered by an engine very similar to the original.
The Fokker Dr.I website has some good information about the triplane.
