Type of aircraft

Passengerplane

During 1925, in addition to the first design sketches for the Fokker F.VIII plus development of the Fokker F.IX, drawings were prepared of an enlarged version of the Fokker F.VIIa-3m designated the F.X.
This aircraft should have seated a maximum of ten passengers, two more than the F.VIIa-3m - and as a design, the F.X was put down on paper even earlier than the F.VIIa-3m.

It is intriguing that the two drawings still existing from this design show different engine locations.

The one drawing where the design is identified as the F.X, shows the outboard engines suspended under the wing, while on the other drawing of the aircraft (under the designation FXa), they are situated on the wing leading edge.

The dilemna once more arose of the engine installation, something that also played a part in the development of the F.VIIa-3m. With the F.X there was more time in which to research the method of support and build it into the wing.

The F.X was undoubtedly intended as an alternative to the F.VIIa, or at least was an effort to offer the market a larger aircraft while making as much use as possible of existing parts.

in the end though, it did not turn out this way. If the project had become a reality, it would have been put on the market around 1926.

There were however good reasons to terminate it. The fuselage length was to measure 59 ft 1 in and the span 82 ft 4 in. These dimensions were in fact some 11 ft and 20 ft more than with the F.VIIa, and all of this was just to enable two more passengers to be carried. It is not difficult therefore to understand why the F.VIII was eventually developed instead of the F.X

The F.VIII was given an improved cabin layout by placing three seats in a single row with an aisle, so also achieving a better weight distribution than would have been possible with the F.X

 

The objective of producing a commercial aircraft that used as many parts as possible of the existing F.VII was realised in the shape of the F.VIIb-3m. This also could transport a maximum of ten passengers. The designation F.X is frequently confused with that of another Fokker design, the F-10. The F.X was a Dutch design while the F-10 was a creation of the American Fokker factory.