SW - Fokker V8

During the years of WW1, after the initial success of the Fokker Dr.I triplane, Anthony Fokker proposed a quintuplane, reasoning that if three wings were good, five would be even better. Reinhold Platz, chief engineer for Fokker, was at first shocked by the idea: further thought only strengthened this reaction. Nevertheless, the aircraft was built, using some parts of the V.6. Balanced control surfaces were fitted to the upper wings, those at the front acting as conventional ailerons and those in the rear working with the elevators.
Fokker, who was his own test pilot, made two brief flights in October 1917, after which it was abandoned. Platz regarded the aircraft as such a monstrosity that later on he would only speak of it reluctantly, and disliked its design being attributed to him.