The Fokker F27 Friendship is a short to medium range aircraft powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops. First flying on 24 November 1955, it is one of the most successful European planes ever produced.
It was designed as a replacement for piston-engine airliners such as the Douglas DC-3. The first airline operator was Ireland’s Aer Lingus, taking delivery of two aircraft on 19 November 1958, with first flights starting in December 1958.
Fokker F27 Friendship Video
Following on from the last video about the Tupolev Tu-204, we head west to the Netherlands to look at the Fokker F27. The video below was produced by the Fairchild Aircraft, who licence built the F27 in the United States. It runs for just over 8 minutes and you’d be hard pressed to know it was originally a Fokker product.
There are some interesting shots of the production line, first flight and more. It is well shot and produced, though the narrator is hardly full of pizzazz. There’s a second video below, which is a one minute excerpt from a longer production, showing the New Zealand National Airways Corporation (NAC) Fokker Friendship.
With some short cabin shots and, like the first video, mention of the unobstructed views from the windows, it is a little time capsule of a bygone era. The Rolls-Royce Dart engines make the plane have a very distinctive sound, one I remember from my childhood. The Vickers Viscount also had the same engines and a similar sound.
Overall Thoughts
A total of 583 Fokker F27 Friendships were produced in the Netherlands, with another 206 made in the USA by Fairchild. After Aer Lingus, Braathens S.A.F.E. and Trans-Australia Airlines took delivery next.
Production eventually ceased in 1987, which is when a hugely updated version called the Fokker 50 replaced it. There are just a handful of Fokker Friendships still flying today.
Did you ever get to fly on board the Fokker F27 or its Fairchild equivalent and what was it like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Flew AerLingus F27 Dublin to Cherbourg and back in 1961. I was 6 and was taken to cockpit and given a hard sweet to suck to stop ears from getting sore. Don’t remember much else.
At least you remember something! Nice that you got to fly at such a young age. Pretty nice indeed!
Lived in Papua New Guinea as a child, many F27’s, flew a dozen or so times on them, also enjoyed the DC3. Airline TAA.
Good old days gone, wonderful memories!
I remember that TAA served Papua New Guinea back then. Great that you got on both the F7 and DC3. It would have been some flying, back then. Thanks for sharing that!
Got to fly the FH-227B on Ozark Airlines a couple of times. PIA-SPI-STL: 57 miles/84 miles, And ORD-BMI: 116 miles. Loved the view out of the large windows and due to the short hops, we never got that high up. But if you’ve ever flown over Illinois you know the view is basically farmland so not that exciting. Also got to fly Britt Airways FH-227B PIA-ORD once, a whopping 130 miles. Changed at ORD to a BA 747-200 to LHR, quite a difference! Never got on a Fokker made version, that I know of.
Such unbelievably short flights! They must be some of the shortest I’ve ever come across at any rate. I can imagine the Fokker F27 to Boeing 747 would be a notable difference!! Great that you got to experience that, really!
Flew an F27 of Air Queensland out of Brisbane in the 1980s and another, belonging to Ansett, to Hamilton Island that same year. I was scheduled to fly one from Darwin to Alice Springs, via Tennant Creek and Katherine the following year, but another Fokker, the F28 jet, was substituted on that flight.
My first flight was on a Fokker F28 of East-West Airlines in Australia. Never had the pleasure of the F27, though I do remember the Air New South Wales ones very well, because of their distinctive colour scheme. Darwin to Alice Springs via Tennant Creek and Katherine is an interesting route. Must try it sometime!! Thanks for the comment.