Fokker F.III

The Fokker F.III was a single-engined high-wing monoplane produced in the 1920s by the Dutch manufacturer Fokker, able to carry five passengers, and also built under licence in Germany as the Fokker-Grulich F.III. It was a straightforward development of the F.II with a widened cabin that seated all five passengers inside, a clean cantilever wing without the F.II's external struts and a pilot seated beside an engine offset about 100 mm. Powered at first by a war-surplus 138 kW BMW IIIa, it was re-engined by KLM with the Armstrong Siddeley Puma; a floatplane version, the F.IIIw, never went into production. It was popular when shown at the 1921 Paris Air Show and became a successful early airliner. KLM began flying it between Amsterdam and London on 14 April 1921 and received 14 from Fokker's German factory, while operators also included Deruluft, Malert in Hungary, Deutsche Aero Lloyd and Balair. It was involved in KLM's first major accident, in 1924, which led to radios being required on aircraft.