Anthony Fokker
A brilliant, opportunistic Dutch plane-maker who armed Germany's air force in WWI with revolutionary fighters like the iconic triplane and then built a global aviation empire.
1890–1939 (age 49)·Dutch aviation pioneer·Birthday: April 6·The Lost Generation
Biography
Anthony Fokker was less a gentle pioneer and more a shrewd industrialist of the air. The Dutchman, born in 1890, taught himself to fly and built his first plane before he was 21. Sensing greater opportunity, he moved to Germany, where his timing was fateful. With the outbreak of World War I, his small factory became a crucible for fighter aircraft. Fokker wasn't necessarily the lone inventor, but he was a masterful synthesizer and promoter, incorporating deadly synchronization gear for machine guns and developing agile, deadly planes like the Dr.I triplane, immortalized by the Red Baron. After the war, he deftly sidestepped Allied restrictions, moving his operations to the Netherlands. There, he built a civilian aircraft empire, producing rugged and popular passenger planes like the F.VII that opened global air routes. Fokker's story is one of relentless adaptation, turning wartime innovation into peacetime prosperity.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Anthony was born in 1890, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Anthony Was Born
The biggest hits of 1890
Anthony's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1890Born
Wounded Knee massacre marks the end of the Indian Wars
President: Benjamin Harrison
1895Started school
First public film screening by the Lumiere brothers
President: Grover Cleveland
1903Became a teenager
Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1906Could drive
San Francisco earthquake devastates the city
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1908Could vote
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1911Turned 21
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1920Turned 30
Women gain the right to vote in the US
Home: $3,395President: Woodrow Wilson"Swanee" — Al Jolson
1930Turned 40
Pluto discovered
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,510President: Herbert Hoover"Body and Soul" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
1939Died at 49
World War II begins; The Wizard of Oz premieres
Gas: $0.19/galMin wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Over the Rainbow" — Judy GarlandBest Picture: Gone with the Wind
Key Achievements
- Designed and produced the Fokker Dr.I, the triplane famously flown by Manfred von Richthofen, the 'Red Baron'.
- Developed the Fokker D.VII, considered one of the best fighter aircraft of WWI, so feared it was specifically demanded for surrender in the Armistice terms.
- Built the successful Fokker F.VII airliner, used by pioneering airlines and explorers like Richard Byrd on his polar flights.
- Founded the Dutch aircraft company that bore his name, a major force in European aviation for decades.
Did You Know?
He demonstrated his first aircraft to the Dutch military by circling the tower of the Dutch Parliament building.
He was a skilled stunt pilot and often tested his own aircraft prototypes.
After WWI, he smuggled trainloads of aircraft parts and tools out of Germany to restart his business in the Netherlands.
The Fokker company survived long after his death in 1939, finally declaring bankruptcy in 1996.
“I build airplanes to fly, not to sit in a museum.”
