Fokker S.II

The Fokker S.II was a 1920s Dutch primary trainer built by Fokker for service with the Dutch Army. Reinhold Platz designed it as the second Fokker primary trainer, but unlike the earlier S.I monoplane it was an unequal-span single-bay biplane with a fixed cross-axle landing gear and side-by-side seating for instructor and pupil. It was first powered by an 82 kW Thulin rotary engine, later replaced by a Le Rhone-Oberursel nine-cylinder air-cooled rotary of 67 kW. The Dutch Army Aviation bought 15, and one was modified with a Curtiss OX-5 engine to draw interest from the United States Army Air Service, which had none and saw it returned to standard. The 15 served with the Dutch Army until 1932, though one was converted into an ambulance aircraft carrying stretchers, the S.IIA, which was still in service when German forces invaded in 1940 and became nationally known in December 1933 for a mercy flight carrying two sick children and a young woman to hospital. Two aircraft also served with the Soviet Air Force.