Fokker F-32
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The Fokker F-32 was a
Crash
The first F-32 crashed on November 27, 1929, during a demonstration of a three-engined takeoff from
This crash was witnessed by famous American poet Ogden Nash, who wrote of it to his then-fiancée Frances (later his wife). Nash's account is found in Loving Letters from Ogden Nash: A Family Album, edited by Linell Nash Smith (Nash's daughter).
Power issues
The crash displayed the F-32's most notable problem; it was underpowered, which was made worse by the aircraft's back-to-back engine configuration, with an engine on each end of the underwing nacelles. The front engine powered a two-bladed propeller and the rear engine a three-bladed one. The aft propellers, working in the disturbed air from the front, were inefficient, and their engines suffered from cooling problems. The underpowering problem was partially solved by replacing the prototype's
Orders
Initially,
Service with Western Air Express
U.S. Army Air Corps trial
In 1930, the
Operators
- Universal Air Lines
- United States Army Air Corps
- Western Air Express
Specifications
Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Propeller Airliners,[4] Handbook for the structure and design of aircraft.[5]
General characteristics
- Crew: 2–3
- Capacity:
- 32 sitting passengers
- 16 sleeping passengers
- Length: 69 ft 10 in (21.29 m)
- Wingspan: 99 ft 0 in (30.18 m)
- Height: 16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
- Wing area: 1,329 sq ft (123.5 m2)
- Empty weight: 13,542 lb (6,143 kg)
- Gross weight: 24,250 lb (11,000 kg)
- Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-1860 Hornet B 9-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engine, 575 hp (429 kW) each
- Propellers: 3-bladed metal propellers
Performance
- Maximum speed: 120 kn (140 mph, 230 km/h)
- Range: 430 nmi (500 mi, 800 km)
References
- ^ "Fokker F.32/YC-20". DutchAviation.nl. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
- ISBN 0-7385-3516-8.
- ^ Coates, Ed. "Western Air Express Fokker F-32 NC333N (c/n 1203)". Ed Coates collection. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
- ^ Gunston 1980, p.63.
- ^ I.A. Berlin, A.L. Gimmelfarb, P.M. Crayson. (1935). The structure and design of aircraft (in Russian). Leningrad: Printing house GO UMS RKKA. pp. 186-201/268.
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- ISBN 0-7112-0062-9.