VFW-Fokker 614

VFW 614
Muk Air VFW-614
General information
TypeRegional airliner
ManufacturerFokker VFW
StatusRetired
Primary usersGerman Air Force
Number built19[1]
History
Introduction dateAugust 1975
First flight14 July 1971
Retired7 December 2012

The VFW-Fokker 614 (also VFW 614) was a twin-engined jetliner designed and constructed by joint Dutch and West German aviation company VFW-Fokker. It is the first jet-powered passenger liner to be developed and produced in West Germany (the East German Baade 152 being the first German jet airliner), as well as the first German-built civil aircraft to have been manufactured for a decade.[2]

The VFW 614 was originally proposed during the early 1960s as the E.614, which was a concept for a 36–40 seat aircraft by a consortium of West German aircraft companies, who were soon re-organised into Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW). Originally intended as a Douglas DC-3 replacement, its most distinctive feature was that its engines were mounted in pods on pylons above the wing. The VFW 614 was produced in small numbers during the early- to mid-1970s by VFW-Fokker, a company resulting from a merger between VFW and the Dutch aircraft company Fokker. The program was cancelled in 1977, since anticipated sales and thus production were not achieved.

  1. ^ Eriksson and Steenhuis 2015, p. 122.
  2. ^ Mendenhall 2005, p. 326.