Fokker C.V

C.V, C.VI, and C.IX
Finnish Fokker C.V-E's
Role	Light recce, bomber aircraft
Manufacturer	Fokker
Introduction	1924
Primary users	Royal Netherlands Air Force Italian Air Force Norwegian Army Air Service Swedish Air Force Hungarian Air Force Danish Air Force Finnish Air Force
Number built	C.VI: 33 C.V-B: 18 C.V-C: 16 C.V-D: 212 C.V-E: 327 Ro.1 and Ro.1-bis: 349; Altogether: 955

Fokker C.V was a Dutch light reconnaissance and bomber biplane aircraft manufactured by Fokker. It was designed by Anthony Fokker and the series manufacture began in 1924 at Fokker in Amsterdam.

The C.V was constructed in the early 1920s by Anthony Fokker. The aircraft was intended as a two-seat reconnaissance and bomber aircraft. When shown to the public in 1924 was manufactured in a variety of versions; the customer could choose from five different wing constructions (which varied in wing span). The radial engines could give between 336–723 kW (451–970 hp). The landing gear could be changed from wheels to pontoons. The aircraft became an export success for Fokker, it was sold and/or license manufactured in Bolivia, China, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the Soviet Union and the US. Sweden purchased two different versions to use as models for their license manufacturing of the reconnaissance version S 6 and a fighter version J 3.

The Finnish Air Force used both C.V-Ds and C.V-Es. One C.V-E was purchased in 1927, with delivery 20 September, and a further 13 were purchased on 17 March 1934, arriving in the winter of 1935. During the Winter War, Sweden donated three more C.V-Es. Two C.V-Ds were also flown from Norway to Finland at the closing stages of the Norwegian Campaign. These were interned and turned over to the FAF. The aircraft were used as reconnaissance and light bomber aircraft between 20 September 1927 and 14 February 1945. During the Winter War, the Finnish C.Vs flew 151 reconnaissance and harassment bombing sorties without suffering any losses. The Continuation War saw the C.Vs flying an unknown number of sorties and suffering one aircraft loss.

The C.VE was built in Italy by OFM (Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali, later IMAM) under licence in 1927 as the Romeo Ro.1. It was used by the Aviation Corps of the Regio Esercito (Italian Army) as an observation and ground attack aircraft. Well liked in the civilian market, it was selected for use by Air Marshal Italo Balbo, as superior to the Breda A.7 and Ansaldo A.120. It entered service in 1927, in Italian Libya against the local rebels. It was used both for reconnaissance and light attack. It was convertible as a three-seat machine, or as a light attack aircraft (two machine-guns), or as a very long range aircraft with an auxiliary fuel tank that increased the endurance from five to twelve hours. The last version had a 410 kW (550 hp) engine instead of 321 kW (430 hp) and produced until 1934, a total of 456, but it was outdated and too slow for the standards of the mid-1930s. Although this was only an army observation aircraft, it still had a quite powerful engine and performance. In 1933, there were 40 squadrons, of seven machines each, related to the Italian Army, with 238 Ro.1s as the main aircraft force. It was the most numerous Italian aircraft in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

...
Wikipedia