Original Fokker D.VII returns to the Netherlands
The Dutch Fokker D.VII of the Deutsches Museum in Munich will return to the Netherlands. In 1945, American soldiers belonging to the Monuments Men, discovered the aircraft in a barn in Vilsbiburg during their search for stolen art treasures.
It was transferred to the museum in Munich where it has been part of the collection during the past decades. All those years the Fokker fighter was on display painted in the multicolour patch pattern used by the German Air Force during WW I. Its presence was to pay tribute to the important role of the D.VII during the final days of the war.
It was already way back in 1980 that, during restoration activities, some evidence was found that the Fokker was once part of the inventory of the Dutch military. However its former identity could then not be established. Now 45 years later the Deutsches Museum has been able to identify the Fokker as that of the 'D-28', one of the D-VIIs that were flown by the Marineluchtvaartdienst (MLD, Dutch Naval Aviation Service).
The wonderful news is that this Fokker D.VII will be loaned to the Dutch Nationaal Militair Museum (NMM) in Soesterberg for a period of five years. It is bound to arrive there in September. It is not known yet whether the fighter will returned to its original colours.
Fokker D.VII D-28 (c/n 4404/18) was taken on charge by the Marineluchtvaartdienst (MLD, Dutch Naval Aviation Service) in January 1920. It was damaged during a landing accident in September 1929 but repaired. It was withdrawn from service in 1937 and stored for a future National Aviation Museum. However, after the German occupation, the plane drew the attention of Hermann Göring, the commander of the Luftwaffe. It is very likely he ordered the capture of the plane for the Deutsche Luftfahrt Sammlung museum in Berlin.
But what happened to the Fokker during the war years is unknown.
The museum in Soesterberg already has a Fokker D.VII in its collection, painted as Luchtvaartafdeling (LVA, Dutch Army Aviation Service) '266'. This machine (c/n 2528/18) is one of the 142 D.VIIs that were taken to the USA after the end of WW I. It was privately flown and finally acquired by the Fokker factory in 1981. It was restored for static display and finally went to the NMM.
Photos: Deutsches Museum and (B&W) FokkerHistory.com