Fabric from Fokker DVII 4635/18
 
Fabric from Fokker DVII 4635/18. During the early 1960s the Smithsonian Museum's Fokker DVII 4635/18 fabric was deteriorating as a result of age. The fabric was removed for the aircraft's restoration and subsequently sold on posters to raise money for the museum. The sample is 53mm by 53mm and is mounted to one of those posters.
On November 9, 1918, two days before the Armistice at a tiny American airstrip near Verdun, three U.S. pilots sat playing cards. Suddenly they heard a sputtering engine and watched in amazement as a German Fokker D-VII drops out of the low gray clouds and lands. The three American airmen there, Capt. Alex H. McLanahan, Lt. Edward P. Curtis, and Lt. Sumner Sewall, rushed out with pistols drawn and captured the German pilot, Lt. Heinz von Beaulieu-Marconnay, before he could burn the airplane.
Lt. Heinz von Beaulieu-Marconnay claimed that he was suffering engine trouble and had landed by mistake. The mood of the captured pilot seemed one of hopelessness about the war, possibly because his brother, a German ace, had died of wounds only a few days earlier. The pilot's brother, a German ace named Oliver von Beaulieu-Marconnay, died of wounds after he was shot down. Oliver had been in Dragoon Regiment 4 and had "4-D" marked on his aircraft. Heinz had ridden with Ulan Regiment 10 and had "U10" on the side of the now captured Fokker DVII. The Fokker had been manufactured a few months earlier in the Albatros plant at Schneidemuhl. The Americans invited the German pilot in for a collegial shot of cognac before sending him off to be processed as a prisoner. After the war Heinz became an important figure in the Luftwaffe but was captured again in WW-II. Unfortunately this time it was by the Soviets and Heinz died in a Russian concentration camp. As for the aircraft, the "kicking mule' insignia of the U.S. 95th Aero Squadron was painted on the aircraft after its capture. The Fokker D-VII was eventually boxed up and sent to America. And now resides in the Smithsonian Institution. In the 1970s the museum restored it to its 1918 condition - including the marking "U-10" painted on the side.
History of the Fokker DVII
In January 1918, late into World War I, a competition of single-seat fighter designs was held at Johannisthal Aerodrome near Berlin to select an aircraft that would lead Germany's planned 1918 offensive. The winner of the competition was the Fokker Flugzeugwerke's D.VII, which earned the reputation of being the best German fighter of the war. The DVII, designed by Reinhold Platz, was a clean, simple-looking biplane, equipped with two Maxim 08/15 7.92mm-machine guns, manufactured at Spandau. The wings had fabric-covered plywood ribs and plywood leading edges, with no external bracing wires. The fuselage was wire-braced steel tubing and completely fabric covered except for the cowling. The aircraft were powered by either a Mercedes 160-180 hp or a BMW 185-hp engine. Speed, however, was not a factor in its success, as even with the 185-hp BMW its top speed was only 124 mph. But it had the capability of holding a steep climb without stalling, making it lethal in a rear attack from below and it could attain and maintain high altitudes from which to drop down on unsuspecting Allied aircraft. It's said that a DVII could "Hang on it's propeller". Because of the great demand for D.Vlls at the front, they were manufactured not only by the Fokker factory at Schwerin but also by the Albatros Werke and the Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke. In May 1918 the first D.Vlls were delivered to the front and were assigned to Jagdgeschwader (Jasta) Nr. I. in time for their use in the Second Battle of Aisne. Most of the Jastas were equipped with the new aircraft by the fall, and their overwhelming success was proven by the increase in the number of victories in 1918-from 217 in April to 565 in August. The Allies so greatly respected the capabilities of the DVII that the surrender of all these aircraft was part of their Armistice terms. There are 7 known surviving Fokker DVIIs in the world today.