This is the DC 5 which was ordered by the Royal Dutch airlines (KLM) to replace the aging Fokker FXVIII trimotors in the dutch indies routes. The DC5 retained the shoulder decker configuration from the Fokkers it was to replace because they set the fuselage closer to the ground making for easier loading and unloading and because of the rough runways it was supposed to fly from made it much less prone to having collisions with small trees than for example the low placed wings of the DC 3.
A direct relation of Douglas' DB7, the DC5 quickly proved itself superior to the DC3 but because of the outbreak of war further development was halted in favor of building C47 (militairy DC3's) aircraft. With only 11 built (Ten of which owned by the KLM) the DC5 faded into obscurity.
The KLM also send out the same specification to the Fokker factory, who came up with the never finished F XXIV. There were a few F XXIV's in the process of being built when the Fokker Factory was Bombed by the Germans in 1940
After the war, the idea of the DC5 and the Fokker F XXIV was dusted off as people still saw a future for aircraft of this configuration and Fokker began work on a propliner which proved how valid the concept behind DC5 was. The resulting aircraft was a direct son of the FXXIV but with a newly desinged wingtype and Turboprop engines.
The Fokker F27 "friendship"
