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Type	F.VIIb-3m
Type of aircraft	Passengerplane
Country	The Netherlands
Date first flight	1927

Fokker F.VIIb-3m

Licenses

When in 1927 and 1928 there was a rush of orders for the F.VIlb-3m, the capacity of the Amsterdam factory was insufficient to cope with the demand.
There were already plenty of orders in

hand for the F.VIIa, F.VIIa-3m, F.VIII and the military C.V, C.VI and C.VIIw. Fokker therefore decided to sell manufacturing licenses to other aircraft companies.

Polish license Plage & Laskiewicz

First was Poland when in October 1928, Plage & Laskiewicz started a series of twenty F.VIIb-3m's modified as bombers.

The Poles acquired the drawings for the commercial airliner and then engineered the necessary changes to convert the type to a bomber role.

Following completion of these aircraft, a further eleven were built for airline use.

The majority of these entered service with the Polish airline LOT.

The first numbers in the list below is the factory serialnumber, probably the buildingsequence numbers. The aircrafts delivered with Whirlwind engines and the ones with Wasps however were different series.

A little confusing, because some of the Fokkers with Whirlwind engines, were later rebuilt with Wasps by the Plage & Laskiewicz factory.

1	SP-ABA	27-09-1929	Polski Linie Lotnicze, LOT "Anka"
2	SP-ABB	09-12-1929	Deliverence to LOT "Basia"
3	SP-ABC OO-AIG	00-09-1929	Deliverence to LOT "Celina" Sold by LOT to Sabena, Belgium. This aircraft was captured by the Germans at Haren Airport, Brussels
4	SP-ABD	08-11-1930	LOT "Danusia"
5	SP-ABE	18-11-1930	LOT "Ewa", Demolished 23-10-1935
6	SP-ABF	18-11-1930	LOT "Flora"
5	SP-ACE	23-10-1935	Rebuild SP-ABF, Whirlwind engines replaced by Wasps
7	SP-ABG	18-11-1930	LOT "Grazyna", written off 15-11-1934
8	SP-ABH	18-11-1930	LOT "Hela"
6	SP-AOF	17-09-1935	Rebuild SP-ABH, Whirlwind engines replaced by Wasps
9	SP-ABI	00-00-1930	LOT "Iza"
4	SP-AOC	26-03-1935	Rebuild SP-ABI, Whirlwind engines replaced by Wasps
10	SP-ABK	00-00-1930	LOT "Krysia"
8	SP-AOT	00-00-1935
11	SP-ABC -II	00-01-1931	LOT "Celina"
7	SP-AOG	23-10-1935	Rebuild SP-ABK, Whirlwind engines replaced by Wasps
1	SP-AMH	00-00-193?	Polish Airforce. This aircraft had Wasp engines
		00-04-1934	LOT
		00-00-1937	Rebuild to a two-engine aircraft
2	SP-AMI	00-00-193?	Polish Airforce. This aircraft had Wasp engines
		00-08-1935	LOT
		00-09-1938	Escaped to Bukarest
3	70.03	00-00-193?	Polish Airforce. This aircraft had Wasp engines
	SP-AMK	00-00-1935	LOT

English license AVRO

In the same year, Avro in England approached Fokker for license rights. Until then, British airliners had been mainly biplanes because "the good old biplane with all its struts and bracings and things which together cause what is scientifically called parasitic drag, is superior to the monoplane, whether of the braced type which is so popular in the U.S. or of the pure cantilever type, such as has been produced by Mr. Anthony Fokker."

The worldwide success of Fokker aircraft hardly supported this statement which had been made by U.K. aviation expert William Farren during a lecture on 31 January 1929. Not everyone was so convinced of the advantages of the biplane. Some, including Avro, favored the monoplane.

So license rights to the F.VIIb3m were acquired and Avro built fourteen F.VIIb-3m's. These were designated the Avro 618 Ten, or Avro Ten for short. Some seven of these license-built aircraft were sold to Australia.

The first disappeared without trace on 21 March 1931 in bad weather somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne.

It was discovered again in 1958 by an employee of a construction firm that was building a hydroelectric plant in the barren Snowy Mountains. While exploring the local area, the employee had found the wrecked aircraft, including its identity plate. This solved what had been a mystery for over a quarter of a century.

Czechoslovakian license AVIA

Third license builder was Avia of Prague, Czechoslovakia who built eight F.VIIb-3m's for CLS and five for CSA.

France also bought five from Avia, one of them later returning to Czechoslovakia when it was bought by the

shoe manufacturer Thomas Bata who used it as his private transport. Czechoslovakia also developed its own bomber version of the F.VIIb3m but, as far as can be determined, only one of these was built.

SABCA license

Top scorer among the license-builders was SABCA in Belgium who produced 29 F.VIlb-3m's between 1929 and 1932.

One entered military service, the other 28 being bought by Sabena which operated the largest fleet of the type in the world.

Italian/Spanish license

Three F.VIIb-3m's were built in Italy by Officine Ferroviarie Meridionale in Naples, and Loring in Spain also built three for the Aviaçion Militar.