‘The Few’ is a series of titles where the focus will be on airliners that were only built or operated in a few numbers or flew for a particular airline. This fifth volume is about the Fokker F.VIII, the first twin-engined airliner with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Until the arrival of the Fokker F.27 Friendship, the Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek NV (Fokker) put only one twin-engine type into production. No major flights to the Netherlands East Indies were made with it, but it served on KLMs European network with great regularity.
Not much has been written about the Fokker F.VIII, although it flew as much or probably more on European lines than any other KLM aircraft before the war. Different engines were eventually tried out, and one aircraft was converted to Fokker F.VIIIa, with engines built into the wing instead of under. Apart from KLM in the Netherlands, the type was also in service with British Airways in United Kingdom, AB Aerotransport in Sweden, Malèrt in Hungaria (including three aircraft build there under license), G A Flygrederi in Sweden and finally with the air forces of the Netherlands, Hungary, Sweden and Finland.
The book also includes cutaways and colour profiles of the Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Hungarian and British aircraft in service with the different airlines and air forces. Combined with many photographs, this book will give the reader the possibility to judge himself what the importance of the beautifull aircraft was. This twin-engined aircraft more than earned this book.
