Fokker Spin

The Fokker Spin was the first airplane built by the Dutch aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker, and the many bracing wires that strengthened it made it resemble a giant spider, hence its name, Dutch for spider. Fokker built it in 1910 while he was a student in Germany, assisted by Jacob Goedecker and a business partner, Franz von Daum, who obtained the engine. It began as an experimental design to let Fokker explore his interest in flying. The first Spin was destroyed when Von Daum flew it into a tree, but the engine was salvaged and used to build a second version, which Fokker used to teach himself to fly and to obtain his pilot licence until it too was irreparably damaged by Von Daum. In a third model he gained fame in the Netherlands by flying around the tower of the Sint-Bavokerk in his hometown Haarlem on 1 September 1911, after which he founded an aircraft factory and flying school near Berlin, where the M.1 to M.4 were developed for the German Army on the basis of the Spin.