WW1-era Fokker D.VII to be lent to Dutch museum amid confusion over its origins

A Fokker D.VII fighter plane on show at the Deutsches Museum may not be what it first appears to be.

The aircraft was deemed the pride of Germany's air arm during the First World War, but it was also flown by other nations - including the Netherlands.

Now a joint team of German-Dutch researchers believe the aircraft on display in Germany could possibly have been looted by the Nazis.

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US soldiers found the D.VII in an old hangar in the German town of Vilsbiburg, to the northeast of Munich, shortly after the Second World War.

They formally donated it to Germany's national museum, the Deutsches Museum, in 1948.

Ten years later, the plane was displayed alongside a sign boasting that it was the best German fighter plane by the end of WW1.

The aircraft had originally been painted in Dutch roundels but had been overpainted to represent a German D.VII from WWI.

"We know that our Fokker D.VII originally belonged to the Dutch navy," said Andreas Andreas Hempfer, who is the curator for historical aircraft at the Deutsches Museum.

"The remains of the original paintwork, which was found under German symbols, back in 1980, proves this.

"What we don’t know is if the plane was sent to Germany as a gift, or if it was looted and so we still don't know for sure whose plane it really is."

The challenge for researchers is that some of the old digits making up the aircraft's serial number - which could tell them more about this individual aircraft - are now impossible to distinguish.

One theory is this could have been a specific aircraft planned to be sent to a Dutch museum in 1937.

"If that were to be the case, then we could be dealing with a possible restitution," said Deutsche Museum researcher Bernhard Wörrle.

"It is also questionable whether this case can ever fully be resolved.

"But we don’t want to just do nothing and keep the D.VII in the museum with doubts about its origin."

Compromise solution

With so much in doubt and key evidence missing, German and Dutch researchers have reached a compromise.

The mystery Fokker D.VII is set to go to the Netherlands military museum in the Dutch town of Soesterberg on loan for five years from September.

There, the detective work will continue with the hope of one day putting together the pieces of the puzzle about what exactly happened to the aircraft - and how it came to be sitting in a hangar in Germany.