The success of the F.27 Friendship 50-seat twin turboprop in the late 1950s and a perceived requirement for a short haul jet to operate over longer sectors led Fokker to study the market for a jet successor to the F.27. After several years of design activity the F.28 Fellowship was announced in April 1962.
It was designed to carry 65 passengers over a 500nm range and the manufacturer chose the Rolls-Royce Spey Junior version of the basic Spey turbofan to power the aircraft. The basic design was such that stretches to the fuselage were possible.
To enable the project to go ahead Fokker sought financial support from the Dutch Government, in the form of a loan and finance from the Netherlands Aircraft Development Board. Collaboration with other European manufacturers was also sought, and in July 1964 agreements were signed with German companies VFW and HFB to build the rear fuselage and tail, followed by a contract in September 1964 with UK company Shorts to build the wings. First flight was scheduled for 1966 with deliveries two years later. Two prototypes were to be built.
The first order for the F.28 was received in November 1965 when German airline LTU ordered one for charter operations. This was however the only order received when the prototype was rolled out on April 4th 1967. The prototype made its maiden flight on May 9th the same year. The Rolls-Royce Spey on the Mk.1000 was now designated the Mk.555-15 rated at 9,750lb thrust.
The second aircraft joined the flight test programme on August 3rd, the same day as Norwegian domestic airline Braathens became the secon F.28 customer with an order for five. A third aircraft flew on October 20th. The certification programme continued through 1968 and the F.28 was granted its Certificate of Airworthiness on February 24th 1969. At this point the programme had received 22 orders and 4 options from 7 customers.
The first delivery was made to LTU on February 24th 1969 and the type entered service on March 30th. 10 were delivered in 1969 and 13 a year were produced in the next 3 years. The basic F.28 Mark 1000 was followed in 1972 by a stretched 79 seat version, the Mark 2000, which had no increase in weights and thus had a reduced range.
In order to get a better field performance out of the stretched aircraft, leading edge slats and uprated Speys were added to produce the increased weight and payload/range Mark 6000, which was certificated in 1975. This version did not attract customers so Fokker concentrated on the Mark 4000, featuring the Mk.6000's stretch, without the slats, but incorporating the uprated engines and increased wingspan.
The Mark 4000, which was to prove the most popular variant of F.28, was certificated in December 1976. In the same month the final version made its first flight, the Mark 3000, which matched the shorter fuselage of the 1000 with the features of the 4000. Nineteen were built. The final (243rd) F.28 built, a Mk.4000 was delivered on August 7th 1987, and Fokker switched its jet production to the stretched F.28 development, the Fokker 100. At January 1st 1993, 215 Fokker F.28s remained in operation.
No comments:
Post a Comment