Fokker D.VII (266) as used by the Dutch Army Aviation Group (LVA) at the Military Aviation Museum, Kamp Zeist (the Netherlands)
The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke at Schwerin, Germany.
Germany produced around 3300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service with the Luftstreitkräfte (German Air Force), the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft. The Armistice ending the war specifically required Germany to surrender all D.VII's to the Allies.
The United States Army & Navy evaluated 142 captured examples. Several of these aircraft were re-engined with American-built Liberty L-6 motors, very similar in appearance to the D.VII's original German power plants. France, Great Britain, and Canada also received numbers of war prizes.
The Dutch, Swiss, and Belgian air forces also operated the D.VII. The aircraft proved so popular that Fokker completed and sold a large number of D.VII airframes that he had smuggled into the Netherlands after the Armistice. As late as 1929, the Alfred Comte company in Switzerland manufactured eight new D.VII airframes under license for the Swiss Fliegertruppe (Swiss Air Force).
This Fokker D.VII, with c/n 2523, is one of the 142 D.VII's shipped to the USA after World War I. It was registered on the US civil register,
and was used in the movies "Hell's Angels" and "Men With Wings". After going through several owners, it ended up in the Wings and Wheels collection. From there, it was bought in 1981 by the Fokker company. It arrived at the end of 1981 in the Netherlands, and was transported
to the museum a year later. The Fokker D.VII was completely rebuilt, and put on display in the museum as "266"
from the Dutch Army Aviation Group (Luchtvaartafdeeling or LVA).