Fokker D.XVII

The Fokker D.XVII, sometimes written D.17, was a 1930s Dutch sesquiplane fighter and the last fabric-covered biplane fighter Fokker developed in a lineage extending back to the First World War D.VII. Severe vibration in the Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial of the D.XVI led to one being converted to a 370 kW Curtiss Conqueror V-1570 V-twelve, which became the prototype; production versions had a 450 kW Rolls-Royce Kestrel, and single aircraft were built with a Lorraine Petrel and a Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs for comparison. Structure followed Fokker practice, with a welded steel tube fuselage under fabric and wings of wood spars and ribs covered in plywood. On 18 January 1935 Lieutenant Rene Wittert van Hoogland set a Dutch altitude record of 10,180 m in one. By May 1939 it was obsolete and the survivors went to a flying school, though they saw some action in the Battle of the Netherlands; when the Netherlands surrendered, all surviving aircraft were set on fire.