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Hi All,
Dan-San, thanks for the input of the Frontline number/date and the clarification of AFP 18 as cited by Lloyd, thanks Lloyd.
Dan-San, do you think the range you cited as "231/18 - 245/18" is too restrictive as those first delivered to Jasta 10/JG1? I assume your range came from observed aircraft in the Friedrich's wreck photos?
Is the Kilduff photo of JG1 showing 325/18F and 377/18F later and is showing aircraft delivered later?
Lloyd, the "F" designation is something that appears to be utilized by only Fokker in the lettering of Fokker D.VII's with BMW motors. Albatros/OAW did not utilize this lettering. I don't believe I've ever read a source explanation for it. The speculation is, the "F" designation is for the aircraft being built by Fokker and it carried a BMW motor. The speculated reason for Fokker to do this is he was trying to lay claim to the BMW motor and this would be a way for the BMW to find its way back to him if the aircraft was found to be non-airworthy, but the motor salvageable! I really don't know if that is true and if it worked.
We do have some supporting evidence from the Armee Acceptance Sheets repeated acceptances of the same BMW motor in different Fokker D.VII's;
BMW Nr.1247 D.VIIF 4364/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1247 D.VIIF 5121/18 Accepted September 13th
BMW Nr.1248 D.VII 450/18F Accepted June 4th
BMW Nr.1248 D.VIIF 7685/18 Accepted October 14th
BMW Nr.1282 D.VII 494/18F Accepted June 17th
BMW Nr.1282 D.VII 502/18F Accepted June 19th
(I believe the above motor number is a typo on one of the aircraft, (likely 494) should be motor Nr.1281, acceptance dates too close and motor number 1281 is missing out of sequential motor numbers, range of 1257 - 1309, accepted in other D.VIIF's)
BMW Nr.1301 DVIIF 4275/18 Accepted July 19th
BMW Nr.1301 D.VIIF 4434/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1301 D.VIIF 5136/18 Accepted September 21st
BMW Nr.1309 DVIIF 4285/18 Accepted July 19th
BMW Nr.1309 D.VIIF 4431/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1309 D.VIIF 5120/18 Accepted September 24th
BMW Nr.1319 DVIIF 4298/18 Accepted July 19th
BMW Nr.1319 D.VIIF 5051/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1329 DVIIF 4373/18 Accepted August 17th
BMW Nr.1329 D.VIIF 5137/18 Accepted September 30th
BMW Nr.1337 DVIIF 4331/18 Accepted July 23rd
BMW Nr.1337 D.VII 484/18F Accepted July 30th
BMW Nr.1342 D.VIIF 4358/18 Accepted August 16th
BMW Nr.1342 D.VIIF 5131/18 Accepted September 17th
BMW Nr.1346 D.VIIF 4360/18 Accepted August 17th
BMW Nr.1346 D.VIIF 5116/18 Accepted September 26th
BMW Nr.1348 D.VIIF 4371/18 Accepted August 16th
BMW Nr.1348 D.VIIF 5108/18 Accepted September 7th
BMW Nr.1353 D.VIIF 4410/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1353 D.VIIF 5127/18 Accepted September 9th
BMW Nr.1354 D.VIIF 4390/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1354 D.VIIF 5119/18 Accepted September 12th
BMW Nr.1359 D.VIIF 4429/18 Accepted August 20th
BMW Nr.1359 D.VIIF 5117/18 Accepted September 4th
BMW Nr.1359 D.VIIF 7710/18 Accepted October 8th
BMW Nr.1363 D.VIIF 4439/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1363 D.VIIF 5135/18 Accepted September 25th
BMW Nr.1365 D.VIIF 4367/18 Accepted August 17th
BMW Nr.1365 D.VIIF 5109/18 Accepted September 12th
BMW Nr.1369 D.VIIF 4420/18 Accepted September 2nd
BMW Nr.1369 D.VIIF 7629/18 Accepted September 28th
BMW Nr.1370 D.VIIF 4441/18 Accepted September 2nd
BMW Nr.1370 D.VIIF 7610/18 Accepted October 8th
BMW Nr.1372 D.VIIF 4432/18 Accepted September 2nd
BMW Nr.1372 D.VIIF 7609/18 Accepted September 18th
BMW Nr.1373 D.VIIF 4443/18 Accepted August 21st
BMW Nr.1373 D.VIIF 5125/18 Accepted September 11th
BMW Nr.1376 D.VIIF 4426/18 Accepted September 7th
BMW Nr.1376 D.VIIF 4433/18 Accepted August 30th
BMW Nr.1380 D.VIIF 4407/18 Accepted August 16th
BMW Nr.1380 D.VIIF 5115/18 Accepted October 2nd
BMW Nr.1408 D.VIIF 5065/18 Accepted September 6th
BMW Nr.1408 D.VIIF 5148/18 Accepted October 17th
BMW Nr.1411 D.VIIF 5064/18 Accepted September 6th
BMW Nr.1411 D.VIIF 7635/18 Accepted September 27th
BMW Nr.1420 D.VIIF 5097/18 Accepted September 5th
BMW Nr.1420 D.VIIF 7618/18 Accepted September 18th
Sorry to post all of them, but I like to show raw source data so other may make their own conclusions I may miss, and/or they may use it for some other insight to another Fokker riddle.
I don't see any trends, like a batch of recovered BMW motors going to Fokker and being accepted on the same date, but I guess things do get blurry when you try to put it down to exact dates...that's too restricting.
We have 27 instances of Fokker re-installing a BMW out of 247 total BMW acceptances, (not including Opel built BMW's, none of which were re-installed). That shows about a 12% rate, is that enough to show any trend of motors being shipped back to Fokker because they were "his"?
There are around 14 instances of Mercedes motors being shipped back to Fokker and were re-installed out of approximately 556 Mercedes total acceptances. That's about 2%, much less than the BMW, so there may be a possibility?? It can be said that Mercedes motors were readily available as compared to the BMW's, so there would be much less a likelyhood for them to be re-cycled back to Fokker in the first place.
The bottom line is Fokker was getting BMW motors back from salvaged aircraft!
One may try to make the statement that the "F" was simply to make the distinction between the BMW and Mercedes powered aircraft to aid field commanders to group alike aircraft together for optimum attack. I think thin ice on that one. We have the letters from Goring when he was commander crying about the shortage of "F" D.VII's, and the mismatch of D.VII's when trying to attack. He certainly knew what a D.VII "F" was, he just couldn't get enough of them!
Best wishes,
Dave W.
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