In November 2024, we highlighted the efforts of the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, on New York’s Long Island, to complete an authentic replica of a Fokker D.VII WWI fighter. One thing that sets this Fokker D.VII replica apart from other displays, though, is that it has not been painted in the markings of the German Luftstreitkräfte (Air Service), but in the markings of the U.S. Army Air Service’s 1st Aero Squadron based out of Mitchel Field, NY, on the very grounds upon which the COAM sits today. As noted in our previous article HERE, the construction of this replica was originally started in the 1970s by pilot and farmer John Talmage of Riverhead, New York. Though Talmage would finish up to 90% of the aircraft structure, and incorporated an original WWI aircraft engine, a Liberty L-6 inline engine by the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company of Berkeley, California, he never completed the aircraft, and in 2014, he donated the project to the Cradle of Aviation Museum, which would carry on his work before and after his passing in 2022.
The COAM has worked for over ten years to get this Fokker D.VII finished, and has enjoyed the support of both dedicated volunteers who fabricated new parts from scratch, and with support from the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, which granted the Cradle of Aviation Museum access to their own Fokker D.VII reproduction equipped with an original Mercedes D.III inline engine, which is flown in ORA’s summer airshows. The restoration was also added by notes from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., which displays one of the last original Fokker D.VIIs in the world, s/n 4365/18, built at the Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (O.A.W.) plant in Schneidemühl (now Piła, Poland).
With the aircraft’s fabric surfaces covered in 2024, one of the main accomplishments of the Fokker D.VII project in 2025 has been the application of its paint scheme. The Cradle of Aviation Museum sits inside some of the surviving hangar from Mitchel Field/Mitchel Air Force Base, which was in operation from 1917 until 1961. Shortly its use in World War I as one of America’s largest flight training airfields, Mitchel Field was home to the 1st Aero Squadron (now the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron; the oldest U.S. military aviation unit still in service). Having flown in combat over France during World War I and later taking part in the Allied Occupation of the Rhineland, the squadron would fly captured Fokker D.VIIs over the Rhine River for evaluation flights and later flew these aircraft when they were reassigned to Mitchel Field. At least one of the Fokker D.VIIs at Mitchel Field had the emblem of the 1st Aero Squadron painted on the sides of its fuselage fabric between the cockpit and the tail surfaces of the aircraft.
Another inspiration for the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s restoration team in painting their Liberty-equipped Fokker D.VII were photographs within their collection of another Fokker D.VII flown in the United States immediately after WWI. Since the D.VII was considered so advanced that it was brought up by name in the November Armistice for all examples to be surrendered to the Allied Powers, 142 Fokker D.VIIs were shipped to the United States as part of Germany’s war reparations. Among these was a D.VII built by O.A.W. equipped with a Mercedes D.III inline engine that was issued the German serial number D.8323/18. After it was shipped to the United States, this aircraft was then given the U.S. Army Air Service serial number 94040. In 1919, the aircraft was shipped to McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio to be used in flight evaluations. Since aircraft used in experimentations at McCook Field were issued a “P-number”, Fokker D.VII 94040 was issued the number P-127. During its tenure at McCook Field, P-127 was refitted with a Liberty L-6 engine, similar to the one installed on the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s Fokker D.VII replica. However, it was reported in USAAS records that on May 4, 1920, Fokker D.VII P-127 ditched into the Miami River with pilot Captain Snow at the controls. Little has been mentioned about this incident, other than a note that the aircraft was later scrapped. The museum used photos of Fokker D.VII P-127 as reference for the paint scheme on their replica and have patterned the markings on the rudder to those of P-127.
Since our last update, the aircraft has been fitted with a set of replica IMG 08/15 “Spandau” machine guns, a wooden propeller, period-correct flight instruments, and a small circular mirror fixed above the open cockpit on the trailing edge of the top wing’s center section. On November 6, 2025, the museum held its 22nd Annual Air & Space Gala, and the Fokker D.VII was rolled out for display during the event. Currently, the museum is still keeping the aircraft in storage for the time being, but according to museum curator Joshua Stoff, the museum will be placing the Fokker D.VII in a new building that will be constructed for the museum and opened within the next year, commenting “We hope to have a groundbreaking this Fall for the new building. Trying to finalize funding now.” Additionally, a post on the museum’s official Facebook page states that “the aircraft is expected to be exhibited indoors as part of the Cradle of Aviation’s expanded gallery space over the next year or so.”
When the aircraft is on display, this faithful replica of a Fokker D.VII will be the only example displayed in American markings as opposed to German markings and will also bring out the Fokker D.VII’s connection to Mitchel Field, on the very grounds from which some of these German fighters took off to fly over Long Island in the immediate years following World War I.
To learn more, visit the Cradle of Aviation Museum’s website HERE.
