aviation - the past, present and future of flight

ratio wing adopted to achieve the best

possible  eld performance.

Extensive use was made of British

accessories and structural processes, with

Rolls-Royce Dart engines, Rotol propellers,

Dowty landing gear, Dunlop tyres, Maxaret

brakes, Smiths instruments, Napier de-icing,

Graviner  re protection and Rumbold seats.

The second prototype, PH-NVF, took its

maiden  ight on January 29, 1957. It was 3ft

(91cm) longer than PH-NIV to provide a better

centre of gravity range and accommodate

four more seats. Unlike the  rst aircraft it was

fully equipped and pressurised.

Friendship PH-NIV was initially  tted

with Dart 507 turboprops rated at 1,540hp

(1,148kW) and 10ft (3m) airscrews, but was

re-engined with Dart 6 Mk.511s with 12ft

propellers in March 1957. It later  ew with

1,815hp Dart 7 Mk.528s in March 1958.

Of 800 hours’ test  ying with the two

prototypes, 300 were  own on one engine,

while 60 single-engined take-offs were

conducted and the aircraft were stalled 1,115

times. Air eld performance proved so good

that  aps were simpli ed to the single-slotted

type, the Friendship subsequently achieving

Dutch type certi cation on October 19, 1957.

GLOBAL APPEAL

As the Netherland’s home airliner market

was so small, Fokker opened negotiations

with Fairchild in the US and on April 26,

1956 granted it licence production rights

to build the type for sale in the western

hemisphere, excluding Brazil. Designated

simply as F.27s, the US-built examples were

the  rst Fokker aircraft to be built in America

since 1932.

Fairchild had insisted the F.27 should

be  tted with piston engines, as they saw

turboprops as unreliable. However, the

Vickers Viscount’s successful use of Dart

turboprops, and Fokker’s obduracy, won the

day. Development of the Dart ran parallel to

that of the Friendship, leading to larger and

heavier-weight models to meet market needs.

The US-built aircraft differed from

Dutch-built Friendships in several important

respects. All Fairchild F.27s carried more

fuel, had rear door airstairs, a radar nose

(soon adopted by Fokker) and mainly

American accessories – while some of the

early models featured Dart 6s, although

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 23

Main photo: British Midland Airways’ F.27-200

G-BDDH on approach to Heathrow in January

1984. AirTeamImages.com/Bob Robinson
      Top right: The second prototype Friendship,
      PH-NVF, which  ew for the  rst time on
      January 29, 1957. Key Collection
      Above right: Fairchild built the F-27 under
      licence at Hagerstown, Maryland. The
      US prototype, N1027,  rst  ew on April
      15, 1958, but was written off after the
      inadvertent retraction of the undercarriage
      while it was in a hangar less than a month
      later. Key Collection
      Right: The  rst production Fokker-built
      F.27-100, registered PH-FAA, had  own on
      March 23, 1958, and was delivered to Aer
      Lingus as EI-AKA on November 19 that
      year. Key Collection

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