Fokker D-VII - Start Up and Taxi Run - Kermit Weeks 

As a boy in the 1960's I read veteran accounts from World War One where the authors described Mercedes Aero engines as making a sound like 'pour vous pour vous'.....etc. It was an incredible experience to actually hear it from the moment the revs stabilized at idle on that old Mercedes. I also read an article by a NZ pilot and Editor for a local Warbird/classic aircraft magazine who was fortunate enough to test fly a replica Albatross fitted with an original Mercedes engine. In the article the pilot described how the cooling system for the Mercedes tended to occasionally shower him with hot water from an overflow vent on a tank in the center section of the top wing!

The sound of that Inline Six engine is music to my ears! Which reminds me...Thank You Kermit for not putting music over your videos..only the sounds of the machines and interesting and informative narration.. :)

If anyone's wondering, the D-VII is painted as WWI German flyer Ernst Udet painted his D-VII. "Lo" was Udet's girlfriend (later ex-wife) and on the tail, "du doch nicht," means "Definitely not you" - sort of a black humored message to any enemy fighter pilot who might get on his tail. Beautiful plane!

When I retired from teaching/coaching in '97, ...I used to drive over to Fantasy of Flight every morning from Kissimmee, and fly the simulators with a bunch of old fuds...We had a blast...Thanks for that Kermit.

how did i miss this channel!? Thanks kermit for making these videos. I always call you the "Jay leno" of aircraft collecting.

This probably makes the most beautiful sound of any airplane I've even heard.

Now I understand why original film footage always depicted a bunch of guys trotting alongside many of the old stringbags when they taxi'd out and in!

I love your videos....if it wasnt for you we wouldnt have the history and the flying experience. I love you Kermit Weeks.....I seriously love you.

I always find your videos well worth waiting for Kermit. And with your showcasing of the early stuff such as this Fokker, it's really taught me an appreciation of those early types that I never had before. The design and engineering is truly fascinating, I can't get enough. Just keep them coming quicker so we can get a regular fix. I'll be out to visit this March. Cheers, Mark

Awesome aircraft. Can't imagine young fearless 20 somethings flying these in combat. Brave young men.

I love that biplane .I built a couple of models of her in my younger years as well as the Se-5 ..

Each plane must be a real learning experience !! I'll bet it's sometimes scary !!

Another beautiful biplane! Very nice! Thanks For Sharing Kermit! :)

Danke Kermit! History comes to life.

Love the d7.

you have to love the sound of that engine what a handful to fly I'm guessing can't wait to see it take off for the first flight

good to see the videos coming again, many thanks.

Fantastic kermie bloody fantastic !

Mr. Weeks, I can't even begin to explain how green with envy I am. I live down the street from you all in Valrico and I hope to see it trimming the tops of the trees some time soon.

So you need an airfield, instead of an airstrip ;) Thanks sir, for preserving aviation history!

Great video thanks. I recently built a 1/4 scale DR1 and did not go with a tail skid because of the "downwind turn" issue you mentioned. Many videos of the DR1 show this is a real problem. I installed a flat black tail wheel underneath so you might not see it and that way I don't have to walk out to retrieve the model and turn it around myself. Thanks a bunch for this tip!

Great plane and nice YJ!

such a badass, beautiful aircraft!

Sweet. Will be awaiting the first flight with great anticipation!

Love these videos, especially the Kermie Cams.

Loved the hat blow off at 2 minutes...great videos!

Outstanding my friend. Bless ya

The real significance of these was the wing section and their behaviour at fairly high alpha. I am guessing this replica has an authentic wing section, so I would be extremely interested to see and hear Kermit on how it behaves just before, at, and slightly after stall - compared to contemporary types. Allied pilots were terrified of it, because it could 'hang on the prop' and remain controllable. I would love to see that demonstrated, and hear a report from Kermit on what it's like to do that. A hundred years later, we have 3 way redundant fly-by-wire and dynamic instability, lifting body blended wing and vortex strakes to allow and use exactly the same kind of trick. A modern fighter can be flown and manoeuvred at very high angles of attack. This was the aircraft that showed the world that is a desirable trait in a fighter.

finally a new kermit weeks vids. can't wait for more flying vids :) Happy new year from Luxembourg Europe :)

Don't tell my girl, but I'm in love with that airplane!!

Thanks for posting.

Great videos and love the WW1 planes.

cool looking

This totally reminds me of that scene from "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" "When was this plane built??" "1916!"

Kermit is lucky, he gets to fly cool aircraft like the Fokker D VII.

Hopefully we'll see more videos of your Hawker Tempest V soon!! Ready to see more videos from you good sir!

I love your videos!

Awesome 😎

Nice has the airspeed indicator in the correct spot on the wing.

Would you ever add brakes? Or are you of team "keep it original?" (I'm "make it work" camp, just hide the brakes) I'm so appreciative you keep these beautiful birds flying! Especially WWI German planes, no one is even close to them and their paint schemes. For me, each of those WWI German planes is a work of art, especially the Fokker Dr.1

When I grow up, I want to be Kermit Weeks too.

Wonderful!

Nice video!

Beautiful Aircraft. Kermit would you Please Please do a video walk around of the entire aircraft?

*Rock and Roll Baby.*

You have big balls sir.

Hope we see her in the Air soon

Can we get a little Kermie Cam sometime soon please!

Kermit, I believe the Fokker will turn left during taxi any time it wants Just an educated thought 👊

😃 Espectacular muy bien 😃👍👍

I only have 1 left leg 2 give, Don't be scared. Fly like it's your last time, & Score!

Glide, like a slide.

Reminds me of when I had an old Mazda with a manual choke lol

hahaha is that an original livery? the writing on the stab roughly translates to "oh no not you!" to be read by the pilots trying to shoot this bird down

that sure looked like a challenge.

I'd love to see Mr. Weeks build a replica of the Curtiss Pusher made for the film The Great Race. I loved both that plane and that movie.

I find it almost incomprehensible that teenagers born in 1890s Germany with unmade roads and horse-drawn transport in the main, could be given this high performance, fabric killing machine after just a few hours of tuition and pushed into the appalling ruthless battle over the Western Front. No parachute and sitting on 20 gallons of petrol in a thin unprotected tank, with the pilot and petrol being the first solid impediment to an attacker’s two heavy machine-guns fired from effectively point blank range.

That looks like the plane that was used in an episode of "Get Smart".

Saw this buzz Wright Field just this weekend during Dayton's Dawn Patrol event. Seen many times at previous DDP's...my question is who was at the controls this show?

Painted up in Ernst Udets' color scheme with LO! painted on the side for his wife's nickname

Is the engine a original, or reproduction of the original or a more modern engine? Sounds great!

Boy that throttle arrangement...did you ever figure out a good reason for it?

Still a bueatiful ride. I'm still not sold on that paint scheme though. : )

Fly it on the unfiltered low octane gutter fuel they had back then for the real turn-of-the-century flight experience!

Just to understand, you wanted down elevator while giving it power in order to... lighten the pressure on the tail skid so it can come around better? You were trying to get the elevator down and the R's up but that odd throttle lever hit the panel with the stick forward. Seems that could be a dangerous move but I'm just speculating about that. I got to thinking that since it was hard to turn in the grass you might have been trying to take some load off the skid to aid steering, am I right?

These videos are GREAT, thanks for posting them. I don't think you uttered the word "coooool" at all. So that was a bonus!

2:28..."Sound's like a John Deere." That it does!

Yea I'd change that throttle setup with that little shoe arrangement on the skid...nice little vfr a/c then...stay away from large airports....ok

Nice video, great to see the old airplane come alive again! By the way, Americans always pronounce Fokker like "folker" with a long o, but actually it should be pronounced with an o like in "boss" or "lock", so like saying "locker" with the "l" replaced by an "f". Hope to see more videos soon!

I thought these could start solely on the hand cranked starter magneto once positioned properly?

does the kit include a copy of the Mercedes engine that went into the original plane ?

I am not a pilot, but I do fly RC planes, could the throttle setup be intentional to help prevent nosing over?! Access to more power requires the elevator to not be pitched down but neutral or even pulled up? Its what I do when taxing my rc planes that are nose-heavy...

Where is that region In the World? Plenty of green, and countryside is beatiful too.

Kermit, you obviously love these great old machines, I'm curious about your thoughts on historic rotary wing aircraft? I'm surprised you don't seem to have a Pitcairn or Cierva machine or something similar, or perhaps even a reproduction of a WWII German helicopter.

Whats the oil pan for? Did y'all change the oil after you flew it?

There's no need for handpropping! Get it right and use the Anlass magnet the way you should. A beautiful plane though!

Great sounding engin, but to be real safe, have a ''FIRE BOTTLE'' HANDY, on your starts and runups !

@kermitweeks Where can the Lozenge pattern fabric be obtained from? I need 4 square metres…

that really looks like a reaplica!

No idea why you dont pull the chocks from behind the wing with a tail on the connected rope so the front chocks comes away and doesnt tangle . Like a Y shape

Udet !

Its about time. lol

more kermie cams please!!

Kermit let me ask you a question ... I glider pilot and I am crazy french ..... My dream is that one day I would hit the handle of a messerschmitt BF109 or similar plane ... How do I access it?

Only the single Spandau ?

I like c: from germany :D

Love your videos! Its actually pronounced exactly like an american would say focker, so fucker with an O xD

Did you ever fly it?

Any reason for the garish paintwork on these otherwise meticulously restored machines?

Does anyone know if Kermit has ever flown this airplane. Can’t find any videos other than taxi test

Bad-ass

das fliegende bügeleisen

that engine is bass boosted

How do you learn this and not get killed?

I have a propeller from a fokker DV11

Mercedes DIII Engine?

Have u flown this plane?

Stick. THROTTLE,RUDDER,TRIGGER, STICK AGAIN.

Is it blasphemy in some way to remove the throttle from the stick and just use the wall mounted throttle?

The plane the Briish Sopwith camels took down