Fokker S-14 Machtrainer
When Germany capitulated in May 1945 and German troops left the Netherlands, there was not much left of the national aircraft industry. The Fokker works at Amsterdam-Noord were practically destroyed and any equipment still left was looted by the retreating German forces. Also the Fokker workshop at Schiphol-Airport was practically non-existing by that time. Much work was done during the ‘Wederopbouw’ (Reconstruction) of the Netherlands and the Dutch industries and one of these projects was the resurrection of the Fokker works. They started in simply built draughty sheds with contract work like refurbishing Harvards and Tiger Moths for the national aviation school. Later this was supplemented by the assembly of Hawker Seafuries for the Marineluchtvaartdienst and Gloster Meteors for the Koninklijke Luchtmacht.
How it started…
Some technical details…
Early flight testing…
Test pilot Sonderman had the following remarks on the S-14 flight characteristics:
-at stall the nose drops after heavy buffeting
-the plane was not easy entered into a spin and actually had to be put into it. Normal recover could be obtained within one turn!
-at high Mach number (ca. 0.83) there was an uncontrollable wing drop during heavy buffeting which could be corrected by throttling down and applying the dive brakes.
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[...] when my very good friend Nico Braas from Netherland said that there could be interest to make article about this airplane for our web site LetLetLet Warplanes. I agree that this could be interesting [...]
I have just read the brief but very interesting article about the Fokker S.14 and its history.
As a Brazilian aviation historian, my interest on the Fokker S.14 stems from the role it played in the 7 August 1953 agreement signed by the Brazilian Air Ministry and Fokker’s Brazilian subsidiary – Fokker Indústria Aeronáutica S/A.
Yet it was with some surprise to note that there is still a persistent notion that a given number of these jet trainers were assembled and flown in Brazil. There is considerable circumstantial evidence pointing towards the delivery of S.14 components and sub-assemblies to Fokker Indústria Aeronáutica S/A and earmarked for the assembly of the first five S.14s for the Brazilian AF. Yet there is no evidence that a single airframe was ever assembled from these components. Indeed, barring personnel that performed flight evaluation work in the Netherlands in May of 1952, no Brazilian AF flight personnel ever flew the S.14.
Over the years this version has apparently gained credence in view of a single photograph portraying a Fokker S.14 in Brazilian AF markings.Although I have never had personal access to the photograph, a handful of retired Brazilian AF officers and aviation buffs have stated that they have seen such a photograph in a local general interest publication of the period.
It would seem reasonable that a Fokker S.14 did indeed receive Brazilian AF markings for publicity purposes – albeit in the Netherlands.
It should be mentioned that sometime between 1953 and his death in the United States, Gerben Sonderman performed a number of displays with a Fokker S.11 – possibly airframe c/n 6628, which remained in Brazil. It has been repeatedly speculated that Sonderman performed a series of flight displays with a Fokker S.14 in Rio de Janeiro, but there is no proof that this actually occurred.
Best regards
Jackson Flores Jr.