Fokker K.I

The Fokker K.I was a German two‑seat reconnaissance and trainer biplane built by the Dutch‑German firm Fokker during the final years of World War I. Designed in 1916 as a small, lightweight aircraft for the Luftstreitkräfte, the K.I incorporated a simple wood‑frame fuselage, fabric covering and a single pusher‑type rotary engine delivering about 80 horsepower. Its wings were of equal span and featured a single bay with wire bracing, giving the machine a compact wingspan of roughly 10 meters. The pilot and observer sat side‑by‑side under an open cockpit, allowing easy communication for observation tasks. The aircraft’s straightforward construction made it inexpensive to produce and easy to maintain in front‑line airfields, which contributed to its use as a trainer for new pilots after the war. Although only a limited number were built, the K.I demonstrated Fokker’s early experimentation with pusher configurations and helped lay groundwork for later more successful models such as the Fokker D.VII. Its brief service illustrates the transitional period in aviation where designers balanced performance, cost and the rapidly evolving demands of aerial warfare. Today, very few examples survive, but the K.I remains a noteworthy footnote in the lineage of early fighter‑trainer aircraft.

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