CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/576646
OCTOBER 2015 94 CompositesWorld » Te Fokker name enjoys a long and storied history in aviation. It harkens back to the earliest days of manned fight, when Dutchman Anthony Fokker frst few his Spider aircraft over the city of Haarlem, in 1911. After founding a Dutch aviation company, Fokker set up Fokker Aviatik GmbH in Germany in 1912 to supply the German army. Troughout the 1920s and 1930s, Fokker was, arguably, the best-known and most successful aircraft manufac- turer in the world. In full fight in the aerospace industry by the 1950s, his company launched, in 1958, the F-27, a two-engine, single-aisle passenger plane that became the company's signature aircraft. But by 1996, market forces had overcome Fokker Aviatik. Te aircraft builder declared bankruptcy and ultimately ceased operations. But the Fokker name did not die. It lives on in business units spun of before bankruptcy. Tree — Landing Gear, Electrical Systems, Services — make parts and perform maintenance and repair work, and carry on under the name Fokker Technologies. Te fourth and most notable is Fokker Aerostructures. Headquar- tered in Papendrecht, Te Netherlands, this developer and fabri- cator of thermoplastic composite structures for aerospace applica- tions — the subject of this CW Plant Tour — is adding a signifcant chapter to the history of its storied name. Turning the page: Thermoplastics Fokker Aerostructures started its thermoplastics activity 25 years ago by creating a small R&D; team that cooperated closely with By Jef Sloan / Editor-in-Chief & Sara Black / Technical Editor This Dutch aerospace supplier leverages its founder's pioneering spirit from a century ago to lead the way, today, in thermoplastic aerocomposites. Fokker Aerostructures: Hoogeveen, The Netherlands