At age 20, while studying in Germany, Anthony Fokker built his initial aircraft, the Spin (Spider)—the first Dutch-built plane to fly in his home country.

His first new design for the Germans to be produced in any numbers was the Fokker M.5, which was little more than a copy of the Morane-Saulnier G, built with steel tube instead of wood for the fuselage, and with minor alterations to the outline of the rudder and undercarriage and a new aerofoil section.

[2] When it was realized that arming these scouts with a machine gun firing through the arc of the propeller was desirable, Fokker developed a synchronization gear similar to that patented by Franz Schneider.

He chose the name Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek (Dutch Aircraft Factory) to conceal the Fokker brand because of his involvement in World War I.

In 1919, he arranged an export permit and brought six entire trains of parts, and 180 types of aircraft across the Dutch-German border, among them 117 Fokker C.Is, D.VIIs, and D.VIIIs.

[citation needed] After his company's relocation, many Fokker C.I and C.IV military airplanes were delivered to Russia, Romania, and the still-clandestine German air force.

Fokker continued to design and build military aircraft, delivering planes to the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

Foreign military customers eventually included Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Hungary, and Italy.

[citation needed] Its greatest success was the 1925 F.VIIa/3m trimotor passenger aircraft, which was used by 54 airline companies worldwide and captured 40% of the American market in 1936.

Notre Dame legendary football coach Knute Rockne was among the fatalities, prompting extensive media coverage and technical investigation.

Shute found him "genial, shrewd and helpful" but "already a sick man"; and he was difficult to deal with as "his domestic life was irregular".

At the outset of World War II, the few G.Is and D.XXIs of the Dutch Air Force were able to score a respectable number[quantify] of victories against the Luftwaffe, but many were destroyed on the ground before they could be used.

The Fokker factories were confiscated by the Germans and were used to build Bücker Bü 181 Bestmann trainers and parts for the Junkers Ju 52 transport.

The company cautiously started building gliders and autobuses and converting Dakota transport planes to civilian versions.

Powered by the Rolls-Royce Dart, it became the world's best-selling turboprop airliner, reaching almost 800 units sold by 1986, including 206 under licence by Fairchild.

[citation needed] In 1969, Fokker agreed to an alliance with Bremen-based Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke under control of a transnational holding company.

The European Space Agency in June 1974 named a consortium headed by ERNO-VFW-Fokker GmbH to build pressurized modules for Spacelab.

After a brief and unsuccessful collaboration effort with McDonnell Douglas in 1981, Fokker began an ambitious project to develop two new aircraft concurrently.

The Dutch government bailed the company out with 212 million guilders, but demanded Fokker look for a "strategic partner", British Aerospace and DASA being named most likely candidates.

On 22 January 1996, the board of directors of Daimler-Benz decided to focus on its core automobile business and cut ties with Fokker.

For this project, Stork received the 2005 "Aerospace Industry Award" in the Air Transport category from Flight International magazine.