Fokker

Anthony Fokker was born of Dutch parents on April 6, 1890 in Kediri, Dutch East Indies. When Fokker was four, his father retired from his coffee plantation business, sold his interests and relocated the family to Holland, settling in Haarlem a short time later. Late in 1908, Anthony Fokker dropped out of high school in the middle of his fourth year.

The Dutch military called Fokker for compulsory service, but this did not suit him. He had a bad attitude and his attempts to appear disabled to the military doctors caused him to be rejected from the military in short order.
In October of 1910 Fokker left for Mainz, Germany to attend chauffeurs school which also offered a course in aircraft construction. His class constructed two aircraft. The first was too heavy to fly. The second aircraft could have flown but a fellow student crashed it during taxiing. Soon after the incident the school closed its doors and went out of business. Fokker then decided to go into business for himself. Fokker's first aircraft was the Spin 1 constructed in December 1910. He went on to construct the Spin 2 and the spin 3 in 1912.

Three things in life Anthony Fokker loved: money, aircraft and Anthony Fokker.

In July of 1913 he won a military contract with the German army for 4 aircraft. The German military gave the aircraft the designation of Militar 1 or M.1. He produced variants designated the M.2, M.3, M.3a, and the M.4. The M.4 proved unstable to the German military and they cancelled orders for more M.4's. After attending demonstrations of French Bleriots and Morane-Salniers he had become aware of the M.4's inadequacies. The Morane-Salnier interested him. He knew that the Morane overshadowed his M.4. Fokker and his associates purchased a damaged Morane and rebuilt it at Schwerin. He flew the craft and recognized its potential. Fokker and his team went to work on a completely new design. What resulted was the Eindecker.