Inside The Cockpit - Fokker D.VII

The Fokker D.VII was one of the most powerful German fighter planes in 1918. Let's have a closer look.
Fokker T-Shirt: ENDED

⚜ Support ⚜

⚜ Museum ⚜
Currently (Dated:26/03/2020) CLOSED due to COVID-19.

 ⚜ Social Media ⚜

⚜ Sources ⚜
A.R. Weyl, Fokker - The Creative Years

Air Ministry Intelligence, Types of German Aeroplanes July 1918

Air Ministry, Report by Technical Commission on German Aeroplanes and Engines

Conditions of the Armistice with Germany, 11th Nov. 1918

Ray Rimell, Fokker D.VIII Part 1 - 3

Treaty of Peace with Germany, 1919, Paris Peace Conference, XIII: 55, 740, 743; Senate document 51, 66th Congress, 1st Session

Deutsches Museum

NACA 134/ 254/ 824

⚜ Music ⚜
Music and Sfx from Epidemic Sound

⚜ Visuals ⚜
Flying Circus Vol.1

[MilitaryAviationHistory]

Hope all of you are staying safe in the present situation and massive thanks to those that keep essential services running! Sadly, due to COVID-19 quite a few Inside The Cockpit trips were cancelled/postponed but I still have material to publish in the coming weeks so there won't be no break here for now :)

[paulgush]

7:37 This airplane was a revolution in aeronautical engineering. The thicker, stiffer wing not only allowed the draggy wire bracing to be eliminated, it also was a better performing airfoil section. From the Wright Brothers until this airplane, designers used thin sections, modeled on birds' wings, which work well at that scale (as well as in the small wind tunnels of the day) but not so well as airplane scale.

[cannonfodder]

Another fantastic video Bismarck. Learned more about it than I would have from regular internet and sources. It's why I pay you for this.

Hope Covid 19 has not hurt your channel and yourself too much. Take care man.

[Makhpiyaluta]

Bismarck, this particulair plane was not built by Fokker nor Albatros or OAW, it was built in 1926 by the "MLD" or "Naval Air Service" in The Netherlands. Hence the strange cockpit layout, double radiator shutters, the metal turtle deck and allot of other details. It flew as D 20 for the MLD. The archives show that D 20, wich initially was built at Fokker in Amsterdam was taken into service by the MLD on August 30th 1920 but on May 12th 1925 it was totaly wrecked when flying into a steel cable on the beach near Petten. The MLD build a complete new plane and gave it the number D 20 again. It was officialy written off on March 16th 1937. Even before WWII it was sold to a German filming company who used it for propaganda movies, after WWII it was found in a German barn and taken to the museum. That's why they found a red colorscheme underneath the painted lozenge in the 1970's restoration and underneath that was the Dutch cocarde and D 20.
This plane was not taken by Goering as some imply. Also for clarity Reinhold Platz had not much to do with the design of the D VII. Platz was master welder not designer, for that Fokker had a complete design team.

[johnleney]

For those that don't know, the "video clips" credited to "Flying Circus" in the film are from the combat flightsim "IL2 Sturmovik: Flying Circus". Anybody who's interested in these old crates and wants to see what it's like to "fly" them should check it out.

[detritus]

If you ever come to the U.S. you should go to the Olde Rhinebeck Aerodrome. It is basically an early 20th Century Barnstormers Show, but you get to see both original and reproduction Early Dawn of Powered Flight, Great War, post-Great War aircraft fly.

[maciek_k.cichon]

Few D.VII were bought by Poland after the Armistice (I don't remember if there were newly build or used ones) and carried both balkenkreuz and Polish checkerboard for a time. Not to mention quite a few other post war users.
Love the cloth wings!

[GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles]

It was nice to see this one up close and personal. Thank you.

[blancolirio]

Just discovered your channel today...Good Stuff! Subscribed. Juan.

[rossmunro]

I really have to say how much I love your vids on the, more in detail, aircraft walkround as such. I make scale models and have found your documentation of the aircraft to be invaluable. Keep doing what you do. LOVE your knowledge. Hoping you are well :)

[watchfordpilot]

Thank you Mr Bismarck, a gem. I've been looking fwd to this for a while and not disappointed - cheers.

[Rammstein.]

"But then the German interrupters actually worked, so there's that...."

German dropping serious shade over here. 🤣

[Aardvark]

Thank you for recording this in English!

[andypaine]

Just discovered your channel. Great work! I love your focus on the aircraft itself rather than the history. There is a lot of info about its historical impact, very little about the bird. Keep it up!

[Sapient]

Bismark your videos have come such a long way, well done sir, excellent job and great watching!

[adamweaver]

Your living the history buffs dream. This is awesome, thank you again and again. As a motor head and history buff, im amazed that these engines were considered high compression at 6.5 to 1. Engines nowadays run 10-12 :1 from factory. Motors havent really changed a whole lot but they have gotten much more efficient. Interesting.

[Dacman]

Dude, your videos are fantastic and they only keep getting better. Thanks and well done.

[Richardcecker]

Excellent presentation Bis! Very informative and interesting. and especially nice to get a much closer look at a very vintage plane. Keep up the great work!

[donmertz]

Outstanding! I love the engineering detail of your presentation. What an amazing aircraft for its time.

[jeffery]

@14:37 the cockpit view shows the gauge on the right labeled as an aux fuel tank.
The reserve tank did not have a fuel gauge. (that is what the watch is for)
That gauge measures the air pressure to the tank.
The hand operated air pump in the cockpit was used to pressurize the tank for starting. It was common for pilots to over-pressurize the tank to the point where the tank could burst. (ask Kermit Weeks) Once the engine was running, you would move a valve in the cockpit to us an air pump mounted on the engine to keep maintain the pressure. The engine driven air pump had a pressure relief valve to prevent over pressurizing the tank in flight.
There were usually four valves on the instrument board.
1) the fuel valve that was either; off, main or reserve.
2) the air pump valve that was either to the hand pump or motor pump
3) air pressure distribution: main tank or reserve tank
4) this valve would block off the air pressure gauge in case of an air leak.
When you would switch from the main tank to the reserve tank, you usually needed to pressurize the reserve tank first.