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Reinhold Platz |
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 Reinhold Platz |
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Reinhold Platz Platz was born January 16, 1886 in Cottbus and was the chief designer for Fokker Aeroplane. He was hired by Anthony Fokker in 1912 as a mechanic and also had experience as a welder. Platz had unique background in welding in that he experienced new applications working at Johannisthal for G. Poulin and H. Dornier. He was able to weld aluminum without using flux to produce autobody parts and fuel tanks.1 His first hands-on projects were to weld the frame parts for the Fokker Spider following a fatal crash killing passenger Lieutenant von Schlichting.
Platz was a man of practical knowledge as were many other pioneers in aviation at the time and was able to bring forth new revolutionary ideas to aircraft design. Platz became the technical director at the Fokker factory in Amsterdam following the death of Martin Kreutzer in 1916. Platz is now largely credited with designing the Fokker DR.I and innovative Fokker D.VII fighter aircraft.2 The Fokker D.VII is considered the best all-round German fighter of the First World War. Platz left Fokker in 1931 and died on September 15, 1966 in Ahrensburg. |
Endnotes:
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1. A.R. Weyl. Fokker: The Creative Years. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1965. 31-32. 2. Peter Gray & Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970. 98, 105. |
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Created February 3, 2020.