 {| |} the fokker d.vii was a german world war i fighter aircraft designed by reinhold platz of the fokker-flugzeugwerke. germany produced around 3,300 d.vii aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. in service with the luftstreitkrÃ¤fte, the d.vii quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft. the armistice ending the war specifically required germany to surrender all d.viis to the allies."terms of armistace with germany 11th november, 1918." the national archives of the united kingdom. retrieved: 7 june 2008. surviving aircraft saw continued widespread service with many other countries in the years after world war i. ==development and production== thumb|right|fokker d.vii thumb|right|fokker d.vii(f) fokker's chief designer, reinhold platz, had been working on a series of experimental planes, the v-series, since 1916. these aircraft were characterized by the use of cantilever wings. junkers had originated the idea in 1915 with the first all-metal aircraft, the junkers j 1, nicknamed blechesel ("sheet metal donkey" or "tin donkey"). the resulting wings were thick, with a rounded leading edge. this gave greater lift and more docile stalling behavior than the thin wings commonly used at the time. late in 1917, fokker built the experimental v 11 biplane, fitted with the standard mercedes d.iiia engine. in january 1918, idflieg held a fighter competition at adlershof. for the first time, frontline pilots would directly participate in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. fokker submitted the v 11 along with several other prototypes. manfred von richthofen flew the v 11 and found it tricky, unpleasant, and directionally unstable in a dive. in response to these complaints, reinhold platz lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay, and added a triangular vertical fin in front of the rudder. upon flying the modified v 11, richthofen praised it as the best aircraft of the competition. it offered excellent performance from the outdated mercedes engine, yet it was safe and easy to fly. richthofen's recomm
Biplanes Fokker_aircraft German_fighter_aircraft_1910a1919 Military_aircraft_of_World_War_I Single-engined_tractor_aircraft