Rare Fokker C.IV ready to take flight

Flight Journal, Dec 1998 by Auliard, Gilles

After more than 25 years, the restoration of the Fokker C.IV serial no. 4127 is nearing completion. The airplane has a short but colorful history.

Built in 1927 by Fokker in its Amsterdam plant, the airplane was acquired for export to the U.S. and was registered by the newly created Civil Aviation Authority. From 1929 to 1930, Bob Ward and Eddie Brown-pilots living in the Seattle-Tacoma areaplanned a nonstop flight from Seattle to Tokyo. The C.IV was modified with the addition of two extra fuel tanks: one in the cockpit and one in the passenger cabin. A few attempts at this flight took place in 1929, one finishing in a very hard landing that required the replacement of the original gear.

The big day finally came in 1930, but the pilots experienced difficulties with the fuel-transfer system. Deprived of fuel, the engine stopped, and the airplane crash-landed in a field. The two pilots abandoned the airplane, but they weren't ready to give up; they came back shortly afterward, however, to find that the Fokker had been consumed in a brush fire. That was the end of the project, and the names of those two men never made it to the front page.

For many years, the charred remains of the C.IV rested in the field. Then, in the early 1970s, Kenneth Cianchette of Pittsfield, Maine, visited the area and was intrigued by the wreck. He purchased it with the idea of rebuilding it to flying condition.

The fire had destroyed most of its wooden structure. Fortunately, the ailerons, stabilizer and elevators (complete with their original covering) had escaped the blaze. The reconstruction of the two wing spars was based on the charred remains found in the interplane and cabane strut fittings.

By the early '90s, most of the work had been done, and at the end of 1992, to accelerate the pace of the project, Cianchette donated the C.IV to the Owls Head Transportation Museum (Owls Head, Maine). Daren Banfield, Owls Head aircraft conservator, hopes to have the airplane back in the air this fall.