Fokker, Anthony

Fokker, Anthony fôkˈər [key], 1890–1939, Dutch-American aircraft manufacturer, b. Kediri, Java, as Anton Herman Gerard Fokker. He established aircraft factories in Germany before World War I and became famous as the builder of the Fokker triplanes and biplanes, which were employed by the Germans. He also developed an apparatus that allowed machine guns to fire through moving aircraft propellers. After the war he turned to the development of commercial aircraft. In 1922 he came to the United States and was later naturalized. He was for a time president of the Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America.

See his autobiography, The Flying Dutchman (1931, repr. 1972).

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