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    Library How to

Fokker S.14 Machtrainer

Dutcheeseblend

Dutcheeseblend

Blenderer
Hi all,

I've been working on another project, next to my T.5, during the past months: a (postwar!) Fokker S.14 Machtrainer.

This is the progress at the moment:

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Regards, Daan
 
Looks promising Daan. The Machtrainer was already long gone when I entered the Dutch Air Force, but I still have good memories of the S.14, as there was one in front of the mess at Ypenburg. Here a picture from me (on the right) and a US sergeant, who's name I'm forgotten, during the exercise Reforger end of the seventies.
(Its a scan from a polaroid picture, so the quality is not very high)

Can't wait to see the end result!
Huub

6aeK0DS.jpg
 
Huub,

Just an honest remark: apparently short haircuts weren't mandatory in those days!

But I am looking forward to the Machtrainer. if it is anywhere close to the quality of the D21, it will be payware quality for sure!

Priller
 
Just an honest remark: apparently short haircuts weren't mandatory in those days!
Click to expand...
On a sidenote: When I was a kid in the 70s living in the netherlands I can still remember those dutch army trucks full of happy long haired, even dreadlocked, young men passing by on the streets. Fond and - looking back - amusing memories. The dutch forces - as I rememeber - "introduced" the mandatory short haircut quite a while later and lost some of it´s "cool" with it.
sentimental.png


BTW: Realy looking forward to this gem. Quite a rare bird, fits right into my scheme of interest.

Regards
Alex
 
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That's a nice subject Daan! :applause:

And unlike the T.V there's at least one available in a museum for research. Should be a bit easier to obtain information.
 
Even better Ferry: we have three! One in Lelystad (the prototype), one in Soesterberg and one in Gilze-Rijen! Currently, we have photos of all three.
 
A quick side note as I don't want to steal Daan's thread.

In 1970 both Germany and the Netherlands decided to discontinue to regulate the hair cut in the armed forces. After an experiment which lasted 18 months the Germans decided to stop the experiment and started to define the length of the haircut for their armed forces again.

However in the Netherlands the decision to stop this experiment ended in several court cases. In the end the high court decided that their was no solid justification to define the hair cut. So the people in the military had their hair at the same lenght as "civilians". It might look weird now, but in the seventies most young men had hair until their shoulders. I think the haircut is still not defined in the Dutch armed forces, but now you don't see many guys with hair that long anymore.

The S.14 Mach trainer in the background of the picture was restored and repainted by the Fokker school shortly after this picture was taken. But in 1994 when the airfield lost its function the aircraft was removed and demolished. There were only 21 Machtrainers build from which 3 survived. The Machtrainer was a great trainer, but Fokker could not compete with the "free" T-33 trainers, which were supplied in the "Mutual Defense Aid program".

Cheers,
Huub
 
Thanks Huub! Funny history. My grandfather from mum's side was in the airforce back then (Nijmegen and Schaarsbergen). Not as in dienstplicht but voluntary. One of his jobs was to pick up the youngsters from the train.
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He did not like the long haircut... :biggrin-new:

I believe the Machtrainer was potent. Big aircraft as well, fuselage diameter 1.75 m. That while the T.5 had only 1.3.

I had the luck to get access to the bird at Gilze-Rijen, as SKHV is now restoring it.
 
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huub vink said:
The Machtrainer was a great trainer, but Fokker could not compete with the "free" T-33 trainers, which were supplied in the "Mutual Defense Aid program".
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The crash in the US during a display that killed Fokker's test pilot Gerben Sonderman didn't help either..
 
The S.14 at the NMM was exposed on the Luchtvaartdagen last August. My companion on this project, Emile Lancee, was able to take photos.

The Gilze bird is in restoration for static display.
 
Dutcheeseblend said:
Thanks Huub! Funny history. My grandfather from mum's side was in the airforce back then (Nijmegen and Schaarsbergen). Not as in dienstplicht but voluntary. One of his jobs was to pick up the youngsters from the train.
...
He did not like the long haircut... :biggrin-new:
Click to expand...

Your Grandfather must have been with the MT-group than. I was a volunteer as well, but I guess I was a few years younger than your grandfather and still a bit "born to be wild" :biggrin-new:

The S.14 is indeed a "wide body" aircraft, because tutor and student sat side by side. As this makes the wings look a kind of short, the aircraft looks a bit cartoonish. (Which I personally quite like).

Cheers,
Huub
 
Hi Daan,

During my time in the Anthony Fokkerschool ('67-'69) I worked on the L-11 when were permitted to work in the hangar. Still one of my favorite planes, in my opinion one of the best jettrainers of that era and a dream to work on, for there was plenty of space and you could easily reach the parts to maintain. David Wooster made a great model for FS9 and Emile Lancee for FSX, so mentioning his name I was wondering if you're making a complete new model or an update of his one?

hertzie
 
...for there was plenty of space and you could easily reach the parts to maintain.
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That was always a dream of all the maintenance guys I knew/worked with. The engineers who designed American planes, generally, didn't think about maintenance at all. They made their design, and assumed the plane would continue to function, the way they designed it, forever. Since maintenance was never consulted during the design phase, it led to some real interesting situations, both in the hangar, and at the I-Level (intermediate level maintenance). After all, what did all those guys with dirt under their finger-nails knew?? They weren't ENGINEERS, so they had no right to input to the plane's design, right?

But, as we used to say, College education to break 'em, high school education to fix 'em. Seems a bit bass-ackwards, don't it?

One notable exception, and it may be because the original designers were British, was the Harrier. When they were bringing it to the US forces, a huge number of design changes were made. My Father-in-Law was part of the team working on it, after he got out of the Navy, and he was an experienced maintainer, and Maintenance Chief. He recommended, and got through, a number of changes, making maintenance much easier over-all. He wasn't the only one performing in this role, either. There was a surprisingly large number of similarly skilled persons filling similar roles in the various Maintenance disciplines.
I've been told it's a dream, over-all, to work on.

Obviously, S.14 Machtrainer was designed in a similar vein! Good indeed!

Have fun. Looking forward to seeing this plane come out :)
Pat☺
 
hertzie said:
Hi Daan,

During my time in the Anthony Fokkerschool ('67-'69) I worked on the L-11 when were permitted to work in the hangar. Still one of my favorite planes, in my opinion one of the best jettrainers of that era and a dream to work on, for there was plenty of space and you could easily reach the parts to maintain. David Wooster made a great model for FS9 and Emile Lancee for FSX, so mentioning his name I was wondering if you're making a complete new model or an update of his one?

hertzie
Click to expand...

Hi Erik,

That's good to hear! The plane is immense (fuselage diameter 1.75 m).

Well, we took off by trying to get David and Emile's model up-to-date for FSX, but details and accuracy were lost during the cascading conversion process. So we decided to do a complete remake.

Daan
 
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