In 1935 the Royal Netherland Air Force (RNAF) signed a contract with the aircraft manufacturer Fokker on the study and design of a low wing monoplane fighter. The aircraft, which was to be used in the Dutch East Indies, was to have a stationary fixed landing gear capable of supporting grass. Indeed, Japan's expansionist policy allowed for military confrontations, and the LA-KNIL (Luchtvaart Afdeling - Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger) felt the need to equip itself with modern fighter aircraft. He made his first flight in March 1936.
The Fokker D.21 was neither an avant-garde project nor an outdated device. Designed by a pragmatic builder, it presents itself both as the result of modern solutions like the cantilever wing, and proven and inexpensive techniques like fixed train. Initially the aircraft was to be driven by a 650hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel IV engine. The order for 36 aircraft came in 1937 but specified that the aircraft had to be powered by Bristol Mercury VIII 830hp identical to the Fokker G I heavy-duty. The policy of contruction was then mainly focused on the bombing.
A few weeks later Finland commissioned 100 D XXI, of which 93 was to be built under license at Tampare between 1939 and 1944. The second half of these planes received an 850-hp American Pratt & Withney Twin Wasp Junior 4C engine. Denmark also bought 12 fighters for the air defense of Copenhagen. These D XXI had to be armed with two 20mm guns. Spain was also interested in this hunter, often baptized as the "hunter of the poor". The Republicans tried to launch a production, but the factory was conquered by the nationalists before the first was completed.
On the first day of the German offensive against the Netherlands, the D XXI fought for the destruction of 37 Junkers Ju-52/3, 6 Messerschmitt Bf-110 and 2 Heinkel He-111 loss. Most of the Finnish skis were part of the counter-attack on the USSR on 22 June 1941. Numbers of them were sent down by the Soviet fighters. The Luftwaffe requisitioned 3 D XXI Dutch which served until 1944 alongside the Dewoitine D-520 of the JG-103 based in Zeltweg in Austria.
Specifications :
Crew 1
Length 8.20 m
Wingspan 11,00 m
Wing area 16.20 m²
Height 2.95 m
Drive an air-cooled 9-cylinder star motor Bristol Mercury VIII with 830 hp (619 kW)
Maximum speed 460 km / h
Range 930 km
Service height 11.350 m
Leermasse 1450 kg
Air mass 2050 kg
Armament Four F.N. Browning M36-7.92-mm machine guns
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