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Fokker Eindecker Takes To The Skies

Strong winds during the Wings Over Wairarapa Air Festival at Hood Aerodrome in November meant that The Vintage Aviator's latest reproduction aircraft, a German Fokker Eindecker monoplane, was not able to make its public debut flying display as originally scheduled. However the HAFU cameras were there the weekend before the airshow when TVA pilot Andrew Vincent took the aircraft aloft for a couple of display practice flights.

This aircraft (ZK-EIN), is another meticulously crafted reproduction from the Vintage Aviator's production line which has been building World War One aircraft for the past 15 years or so. In the case of this 1915 Fokker E.III Eindecker, the aircraft is built upon one of a series of Fokker fuselages constructed by Achim Engels in Germany over the course of several decades.

Engels was commissioned by The Vintage Aviator Ltd to build several complete Fokker airframes, and after delivery (and final assembly) the company added an original WW1-era 100hp Gnome rotary engine to make this one of the most accurate E.III reproductions in the world. The original Eindeckers were powered by Oberusel UR.1 rotary engines, which themselves were just a license-built version of the Gnome.

The Vintage Aviator currently has a second Engels E.III, which is well on the way to being completed. It's expected that aircraft will make its first flights some time in 2024.

Remarkably, New Zealand is home to other Fokker monoplanes, and not just just these Eindeckers. For the past ten years or so The Vintage Aviator has also been operating two Fokker D.VIIIs, a design dating back to 1918, which were also built upon fuselages constructed by Mr Engles. These two aircraft are powered by Oberusel UR.1 rotary engine reproductions that were built in-house by TVA.

A third (Engels-built) Eindecker is now also resident at the Omaka Avaiation Heritage Centre at Omaka Aerodrome in New Zealand. This aircraft is owned by Mr Engels himself, but was on long term loan to The Australian Vintage Aircraft Society (TAVA) in Australia until 2030, however, now that TAVAS has ceased operating, the aircraft has been relocated to New Zealand for a few years before it will be returned to Germany.

Currently the Omaka E.III is not airworthy, but it is expected it will fly again at some stage in 2024 after its engine, a Gnome Monosupape rotary engine replica built by Tony Wytenburg's Classic Aero Machining Services, has been overhauled and serviced.

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