The Fokker D.VIII was a German single seater fighter developed near the end of World War I. While it only had a 100 hp engine it was so light and small that the performance was better than expected and it was a formidable opponent.
The photo above shows the D8 (replica) engaging the Bristol Fighter in a mock dogfight. These are always entertaining and because the old bi-planes are so slow and can turn so quickly they can keep the action in a smaller space in front of the runway. With the jets by the time they have turned they are 10 kilometers away!
The D8 is closing in and lining up his opponent for a shot. It looks like the "Biff" is history unless the tail gunner can successfully defend his plane!
Use the controller to watch a movie of the Fokker D8 flying past at the air show. This movie requires a modern browser supporting HTML5 (using the MP4 codec) and is fairly large (about 340K).
Fokker D8 Specs (D.VIII): Crew: 1 Length: 5.86 m (19 ft 3 in) Wingspan: 8.34 m (27 ft 4 in) Height: 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) Wing area: 10.7 m2 (115 ft^2) Empty weight: 405 kg (893 lb) Gross weight: 605 kg (1,334 lb) Powerplant: 1 x Oberursel UR.II 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary piston engine, 82 kW (110 hp)
Performance: Maximum speed: 204 km/h (127 mph, 110 kn)
Armament: Guns: 2 x 7.92 mm Spandau MG08 machine guns
Sources: Wikipedia, Warbirds Over Wanaka 2012 Programme.
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