By Adam Estes
Old Rhinebeck Airport in upstate New York, renowned for its extensive collection of original and replica World War I aircraft, has just received a new aircraft: a home-built full-scale replica of a Fokker D.VI. This little-known representation of the biplane fighter will make a great addition to the airport’s historic aircraft lineup.
The D.VI was a product of Fokker Flugzeugwerke, initially named the V.13 by the company, and was developed based on the V.9 prototype. Anthony Fokker’s chief designer, Reinhold Platts, took further inspiration from the tail of an early model of the Fokker Dr.I triplane and shortened the wings for a fighter project that would become the highly successful D.VII. Two prototypes were tested by the Luftstreitkräfte, one (V.13/1) with an Oberursel Ur.III rotary engine and the second (V.13/2) with a Siemens-Halske Sh.III rotary engine. The test pilots considered the aircraft to be a good performer and a limited production run was ordered.
However, by this stage of the war, the British blockade of Germany had a serious impact on the German rotary engines: during this period, these engines were usually lubricated with castor oil, which had to be imported into Germany, which was almost impossible due to the British blockade. Although the Germans were able to develop alternative oils such as Voltol, these oils were generally of inferior quality, and as a result German rotary engines became less reliable and had a shorter service life, with engines having to be overhauled or replaced completely. Due to these reliability issues, the rotary engine D.VI was produced in limited numbers between April and August 1918, while the inline engine D.VII became more popular in the final year of the war.
Only 59 D.VIs were built, 47 of which were equipped with the Oberursel Ur.II, a copy of the French Le Rhône 9J 110 hp rotary engine, and 12 with the Goebel Goe III 160 hp rotary engine. Seven airframes were exported to Austria-Hungary for use by the aviation forces. With the introduction of more fighters, many of the surviving D.VIs were withdrawn from the front and sent back to Germany for use as trainers. Today, no original examples survive, but several scaled-down replicas have been built and flown by WWI aviation enthusiasts, as well as at least two full-scale examples.
One of the planes was built in the 1990s by Chuck Brady of Dwight, Illinois, and was powered by a Warner 145 Super Scarab radial engine with 125 horsepower (a popular choice among manufacturers of historical World War I aircraft replicas) rather than the now scarce rotary engines used during World War I. The plane was marked as Flattsflown by Lieutenant Kurt Seit of Jasta 80, who became an ace with five victories before the end of the war. Brady had enjoyed flying the aircraft for many years, but now at the age of 93 he decided that the D.VI would find a new home where it would remain airworthy, so he sold the prized aircraft to the Old Rhinebeck Airport.
Old Rhinebeck Airport already has several replica Fokker World War I fighters, including an EI single-decker four-seat Dr.I Dreidecker, a D.VII and an EV/D.VIII high-wing monoplane. The D.VI will complete the German aircraft lineup at the airport and will compete against Allied designs at future Old Rhinebeck Meadows air shows.
