Summary

Aircraft History

The Fokker Dr.1 Triplane is one of the few First World War aircraft designs to achieve lasting recognition, mostly due to its association with Freiherr Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron). Only a small number of Dr.1 Triplanes were built by the Fokker Flugzeugwerke at Schwerin, Mecklenburg and many of these were flown by Jagdgeschwader 1 or 'Richthofen's Circus' as it was often called by British pilots due to the multicoloured aircraft it operated and its . The Fokker Triplane was also favoured by German ace Werner Voss who first flew the aircraft in August 1917 and shot down 22 British aircraft in the Ypres area in 21 days. Richthofen first flew the type in combat on 2 September 1917 shooting down a British two-seat aircraft. Richthofen claimed the last 19 of his victories flying the Triplane before being shot down and killed by Australian ground fire near the Bray-Corbie road in the Somme Valley on 21 April 1918 while flying Triplane 425/17. He was later buried by members of No.3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps.

The Dr.1 was not the first triplane design to see active service as the British Sopwith Triplane had been flown by the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service since 1916 and this design is believed to have inspired Anthony Fokker's Dr.1 however Fokker's Triplane was very different and lacks the wing bracing wires used on the Sopwith. Although slower than other types, the great manoeverability of the triplane design made it popular with skilled pilots. The engine used by Fokker was a 110 horsepower Oberursel rotary copied from the Gnome design.

Model History

Scale model of Fokker Dr.1 Triplane. Believed to represent aircraft 425/17 flown by Manfred von Richthofen at the time of his death.

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