Anthony Fokker: The Flying Dutchman Who Shaped American Aviation by Marc Dierikx

Author:Marc Dierikx
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Aviation, Biographies & Memoirs, History, Military, Technology & Engineering, Transportation, United States
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
Published: 2018-04-03T03:00:00+00:00

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If Anthony was pleased with the praise that came his way in London, he positively beamed three days later at the festivities in Holland to welcome the return of the three airmen who had made the flight from Amsterdam to Batavia. He was the one who held the honor to officially laurel Van der Hoop and his crew at Schiphol Airfield before the press could get to them. After answering questions and posing for photographers and film crews for forty-five minutes, the company left in procession for Amsterdam. Anthony personally drove the third car, containing the flight crew. He seated mechanic Piet van den Broeke next to him. All along the route people had gathered, cheering with enthusiasm. As the vehicles approached Amsterdam spectators amassed into a real crowd. It had been years since Amsterdam had seen so many people about. Just before they got to the city center, Anthony stopped and had all three crewmembers position themselves on the rear of his car, so that everybody would be able to see them.56

The spectacle was surpassed a week later, on April 25, when crowds gathered in the Houtrust sporting grounds in The Hague for a national manifestation in honor of the daring airmen. Pageants of musical bands in shining outfits, equestrian schools, sports companies, dancing groups, all turned up for the occasion. At 2 p.m. sharp it was Fokker, donning his best jacket and tie and wearing a top hat, who stepped out of the Paulez Hotel opposite the royal palace, followed by the three airmen. A guard of honor saluted them. In a carriage drawn by four horses decked with feathers and plumes they slowly made their way through the city, accompanied by the cheers of thousands along the route. At the Houtrust sporting grounds twenty thousand people had gathered. Guns fired a formal salute. Toward 3 p.m. Anthony and the three airmen took their places on the main stage. A nearly four-hour-long pageant in their honor passed in front of them. At the end Anthony and the men received special certificates of appreciation that had been carried to The Hague by relay runners from “the four corners of the country.” Only around 7 p.m. were the four celebrated aviators able to withdraw themselves for a private dinner at one of the best restaurants that The Hague had to offer.57

The attention and praise bestowed upon him was such that Anthony soon began making plans to introduce the F.VII airliner in America as well. On May 16 he boarded the Berengaria in Southampton, bound again for New York. When the liner finally docked, eighteen hours behind schedule because of dense fog, he lost no time indicating to reporters that he was now planning to ship his latest airliners to the United States and focus on the development of commercial air transport there.58

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