Koolhoven Frederick @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • British Aerial Transport Company Ltd (B.A.T.) built Koolhoven FK-1 British Aerial Transport Company Ltd (B.A.T.) built Koolhoven FK-1
    British Aerial Transport Company Ltd (B.A.T.) built Koolhoven FK-1
  • Frederick "Frits"<br>Koolhoven (1920) Frederick "Frits"<br>Koolhoven (1920)
    Frederick "Frits"
    Koolhoven (1920)
  • 1907 1907
    1907
  • B.A.T. built Koolhoven FK-8 B.A.T. built Koolhoven FK-8
    B.A.T. built Koolhoven FK-8
  • British Aerial Transport Company Ltd (B.A.T.) built FK-10 British Aerial Transport Company Ltd (B.A.T.) built FK-10
    British Aerial Transport Company Ltd (B.A.T.) built FK-10
  • Frederick<br>Koolhoven<br>(FK-26) Frederick<br>Koolhoven<br>(FK-26)
    Frederick
    Koolhoven
    (FK-26)
  • Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939 Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
    Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
  • Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939 Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
    Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
  • Frits Koolhoven Frits Koolhoven
    Frits Koolhoven
  • British Aerial Transport Company built FK-10 British Aerial Transport Company built FK-10
    British Aerial Transport Company built FK-10
  • B.A.T. designed Koolhoven FK-23 B.A.T. designed Koolhoven FK-23
    B.A.T. designed Koolhoven FK-23
  • Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939 Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
    Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
  • British Aerial Transport Company Ltd 1918 built Koolhoven FK-23 British Aerial Transport Company Ltd 1918 built Koolhoven FK-23
    British Aerial Transport Company Ltd 1918 built Koolhoven FK-23
  • Koolhoven FK-26 Limousine (B.A.T. designed) Koolhoven FK-26 Limousine (B.A.T. designed)
    Koolhoven FK-26 Limousine (B.A.T. designed)
  • Frits Koolhoven Frits Koolhoven
    Frits Koolhoven
  • Koolhoven FK-26 Limousine (B.A.T. designed in 1919) Koolhoven FK-26 Limousine (B.A.T. designed in 1919)
    Koolhoven FK-26 Limousine (B.A.T. designed in 1919)
  • Koolhoven FK-30 Toerist Koolhoven FK-30 Toerist
    Koolhoven FK-30 Toerist
  • Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939 Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
    Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
  • Koolhoven FK-30 Toerist Koolhoven FK-30 Toerist
    Koolhoven FK-30 Toerist
  • Factory Factory
    Factory
  • Frits Koolhoven Frits Koolhoven
    Frits Koolhoven
  • FK-41 (1928) FK-41 (1928)
    FK-41 (1928)
  • FK-43 (1931) FK-43 (1931)
    FK-43 (1931)
  • FK-46 (1933) FK-46 (1933)
    FK-46 (1933)
  • The Koolhoven FK-47 only exemplar (1933) The Koolhoven FK-47 only exemplar (1933)
    The Koolhoven FK-47 only exemplar (1933)
  • Frederick Koolhoven Frederick Koolhoven
    Frederick Koolhoven
  • Koolhoven FK-48 (6 to 8 passengers in 1934) Koolhoven FK-48 (6 to 8 passengers in 1934)
    Koolhoven FK-48 (6 to 8 passengers in 1934)
  • Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939 Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
    Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
  • FK-48 FK-48
    FK-48
  • Koolhoven FK-50 (1934) Koolhoven FK-50 (1934)
    Koolhoven FK-50 (1934)
  • FK-53 (1936) FK-53 (1936)
    FK-53 (1936)
  • FK-52 (1937) FK-52 (1937)
    FK-52 (1937)
  • FK-56 (1938) FK-56 (1938)
    FK-56 (1938)
  • The FK-57 four-seater with 205 hp Gipsy Six series II engines The FK-57 four-seater with 205 hp Gipsy Six series II engines
    The FK-57 four-seater with 205 hp Gipsy Six series II engines
  • Koolhoven FK-58 (1938) Koolhoven FK-58 (1938)
    Koolhoven FK-58 (1938)
  • With the Hanriot replica (1935) With the Hanriot replica (1935)
    With the Hanriot replica (1935)
  • Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939 Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939
    Waalhaven (Rotterdam), circa 1939

Frederick Koolhoven

Bloemendaal, 11 January 1886 – † Haarlem, 1 July 1946

Sytse Frederic Willem "Frits" Koolhoven was an aircraft designer in Britain and his native Netherlands.

Koolhoven was born in Bloemendaal, Netherlands. After training as an engineer in Liège (French speaking Belgium) and Antwerp (Dutch speaking Belgium), he worked from 1907 as a mechanical engineer for Minerva in Antwerp, and also drove in races and rallies for them. He became interested in aviation. In 1910 he acquiried his own Hanriot aircraft, and was involved in the construction of the first Dutch plane the "Heidevogel"

In 1911, Koolhoven goes to France where he works with Louis Béchereau at the SPAD factory. In 1912, he is in England, working for British Deperdussin, then from 1914 for Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, then from 1917 as chief designer for the British Aerial Transport Company alongside the Dutch chief draughtsman Robert B.C. Noorduyn.

He returned to the Netherlands, but there the market was dominated by Fokker, so he returned to his old job as an automobile engineer for the Spyker automobile factory.

In 1921, a group of businessmen founded the Nationale Vliegtuig Industrie (N.V.I. - "National Aircraft Industry", Inc.), and hired him as their chief designer. The company lasted only four years. As with BAT, N.V.I. turned out many technically advanced designs, which attracted attention from all over the world but virtually no orders.

At the demise of N.V.I. Koolhoven convinced several shareholders that the company would still have been viable if he had had complete control of the operations. So when N.V.I. was dissolved, its assets were taken over by a new company: N.V. Koolhoven vliegtuigen ("Koolhoven aircraft, Incorporated").

The company, Koolhoven, became the second aircraft manufacturing company in the Netherlands after Fokker, but the factory at Waalhaven was destroyed by German bombing in the Blitzkrieg on 10 May 1940 at the outbreak of World War II. Frederick Koolhoven was convinced that the bombing had everything to do with his contribution as an aircraft designer in England during World War I. For unknown reasons he became a very inactive member of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB). After the war he was captured by the Dutch police because of this membership but he was released several days later. Frederick Koolhoven died of a stroke at Haarlem in 1946.

N.V. Koolhoven

The company was based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. From its conception in 1926 to its destruction in the Blitzkrieg in May 1940, the company remained the Dutch second major aircraft manufacturer (after Fokker). Although many of its aircraft were as unsuccessful economically as they were brilliant from a design standpoint, the company managed to score several 'hits', amongst them the FK-58 single-seat monoplane fighter, the FK-50 twin-engine passenger transport and the FK-41, built in England under licence by Desoutter.

History

In 1920, aircraft designer Frederick 'Frits' Koolhoven returned from England to his native Netherlands. The postwar years had not been good to him: The British Aerial Transport Company for which he was chief designer went bankrupt and all other manufacturers were struggling for survival too hard to think of hiring. The Netherlands, Koolhoven hoped, would be better. But there he found that while the Netherlands new airline KLM was a willing taker for all the aircraft it could get, the market was almost completely dominated by Fokker. Out of other options Koolhoven returned to his old job and worked as an automobile engineer for the Spyker automobile factory.

In 1921, his luck began to change when a group of businessmen founded the N.V. Nationale Vliegtuig Industrie ("National Aircraft Industry, Incorporated"), and hired him as their chief designer. The time was still not yet ripe for a second Dutch aircraft manufacturer and, as with BAT, N.V.I. produced technically advanced designs that attracted attention from all over the world, but received virtually no orders. The company lasted only four years.

At the demise of N.V.I. Koolhoven had become sufficiently business-aware to convince several of the N.V.I. shareholders that the company would still be viable, if only he would have complete control of the operations. Enough of the shareholders agreed and even while N.V.I. was being dissolved, its assets were almost immediately taken over by a new company: N.V. Koolhoven vliegtuigen (Koolhoven aircraft, Inc.).

For its first five years, 1925 to 1930, the company managed to stay afloat by making one-off purpose-built airplanes to order, slowly branching out into the private aircraft sector and trying to break into the military market. In 1930, the company finally struck gold with the FK-41 high-wing tourist monoplane. Although N.V. Koolhoven itself only built 7 Fk-41's the airplane was built under licence in England as the Desoutter Mk.I and later improved as the Mk.II.

By 1933 the military market had picked up and Koolhoven increasingly built trainers and observation aircraft for the Dutch air force as well as several other countries. By 1938, with war looming, the company's order books continued to fill as air forces from all over Europe were virtually fighting over each plane that rolled off the production line. Even France found itself buying Koolhoven FK-58 fighters as its own aircraft industry was unable to keep up with the demand from the Armée de l'Air.

In 1938, the Koolhoven factory at Waalhaven covered 8,000 square meters and had 1,200 employees. While still no match for Fokker, Koolhoven had established itself firmly as the number two manufacturer in the Netherlands.

The end came on 10 May 1940. As a prelude to the German invasion of the Netherlands, the Luftwaffe set out to destroy as much as possible of the Dutch Air Force on the ground. On the morning of that day, a massive armada of German bombers appeared over Waalhaven and almost completely destroyed the airfield and its surrounding facilities. This included the Koolhoven factory and within a few hours, the company had been reduced to a pile of rubble and all drawings, models, and documentation of Koolhoven's projects were destroyed. Today, the only photographs remaining of Koolhoven's planes are newspaper clippings and private snapshots.

Frederick Koolhoven died of a stroke on 1 July 1946. His company, although without means of production, continued to exist as a holding. Over the next ten years various attempts were made to start up new projects, but apart from the construction of two prototype sailplanes nothing happened and in 1956 N.V. Koolhoven Aeroplanes closed and was liquidated.

Aircraft

Apart from the Heidevogel of 1911, Koolhoven designed 59 aircraft, which he consecutively numbered FK-1 to FK-59. About half of these were design studies that were never built. Koolhoven designed projects FK-1 to FK-28 in England for Armstrong Whitworth and BAT, projects FK-29 to FK-34 for N.V.I. and projects FK-35 to FK-59 for his own company. The first 'true' Koolhoven airplane therefore would have been the FK-35. However, on formation of the N.V. Koolhoven, Frits Koolhoven took with him the design of the FK-30 "Toerist" light sportsplane original designed for NVI, but not built. Several "Toerists" built by the new FK Koolhoven therefore constitute the earliest airplanes of that company, if not by production date, then at least by numbering.

The the Koolhoven foundation lists 26 Koolhoven designs, starting with the F.K.30 and then going from F.K.35 to F.K.59. It however also notes that the designs F.K.37, 38, 39 and 59 were never built, while only giving pictures of wooden models for the designs F.K.35 and F.K.36. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation only lists the Koolhoven designs F.K.40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53 and 58 but mentions a F.K.50-b bomber project, which the Koolhoven foundation site doesn't.

The best-known of those designs are the F.K.41 high-wing monoplane, which was built under licence as the Desoutter Mk.II and the F.K.50 twin engine transport monoplane, two of which were used by the Swiss aircraft company Alpar (de). Amongst the military designs, the most successful were the Koolhoven F.K.51 biplane reconnaissance aircraft, which saw service in extensive numbers in the Dutch air force from the mid-1930s until the Second World War, the Koolhoven F.K.52 biplane which was used by the Finnish Air Force and the Koolhoven F.K.58 single-seat monoplane fighter. The latter was the plane ordered by France and flew in the Armée de l'Air during the Battle of France.

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