Fokker F.XVIII

The Fokker F.XVIII was an airliner produced in the Netherlands in the early 1930s, essentially a scaled-up Fokker F.XII intended for long-distance flights. Like its predecessor it was a conventional high-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage, and its cabin seated 12 passengers or four to six on seats convertible to sleeping berths. Only five were built, all for KLM, each named after a bird, and used on the Amsterdam to Batavia route. The type became famous in the Netherlands for two flights: the Pelikaan Christmas mail flight to Batavia in December 1933, completed in 73 hours 34 minutes, and the Snip flight to Curacao a year later in 55 hours 58 minutes. KLM withdrew them from the Batavia route in October 1936 in favour of the Douglas DC-2.