The Fokker D.VII in The Netherlands
The First World War
During World War 1, a number of aircraft from the fighting countries, made emergency landings in The Netherlands. When intact, they were put into service by the Dutch, as it was very difficult to obtain new aircraft. Among these interned aircraft were six D.VII’s, of which three were used by the LVA (LuchtVaartAfdeling, Army Air Service).After the war
After the war, the Dutch armed forces were in desperate need for new aircraft. There was a design made by the ‘N.V. Nederlandsche Automobielfabriek Trompenburg’, a Dutch car manufacturer, the V.3. This was a biplane with a 130hp Clerget rotary engine, of which 78 were ordered. But, Trompenburg had problems with building the aircraft, and the design was already obsolete when the prototype flew in the summer of 1919.
At the same time, Fokker was returning to Holland, bringing along hundreds of modern aircraft. Among these were a lot of D.VII’s. He heard from the problems with Trompenburg, and came in contact with Henri Wijnmalen, the manager of Trompenburg. They agreed that Fokker would deliver D.VII’s in place of the V.3’s.
Military use in The Netherlands
After all, twenty were delivered to the LVA, twenty to the MLD (Marine Luchtvaart Dienst, Navy Air Service), and six to the LA-KNIL (Luchtvaart Afdeling van het Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, Army Air Service of the Dutch East Indies, nowadays Indonesia).
Civilian use in The Netherlands
Besides the military ones, there also have been some civilian D.VII’s in The Netherlands.