airsLLide No. 45971: PH-OSI, Fokker 50, Fokker BV, Lelystad, August 3, 2024
Preserved on Display: PH-OSI was the second prototype for the reworked Fokker 50, a heavily modernised replacement for the ageing Fokker 27 on which its design was based. She remained with the manufacturer as demonstrator for later modifications, including a military survey version.
As an interesting side note to hardcore aviation fans, it is noteworthy that the two prototypes received manufacturer serial numbers (or construction numbers, if you prefer that term) in the sequence of the ancestor, the Fokker 27, with PH-OSI being cn 10688.
When serial production of the Fokker 50 started, all subsequent aircraft built for delivery to a customer received a msn from 20100 and up (actually, the first number used on a serial production aircraft was 20104, a Fokker 50 built for DLT, later Lufthansa CityLine in Germany, as D-AFKA).
Retired by Fokker BV in mid November 1989, PH-OSI was later donated to the Aviodome Museum near Amsterdam Schiphol airport, and after its demise, became part of the collection of the successor, Aviodrome (note the minor difference in spelling with the additional 'r') in Lelystad, about an hour's drive Northeast from Amsterdam. There, she now serves as gate plane next to the museum parking lot and the main entrance to the aircraft collection well worth a visit, ranging from early Fokker planes and the Douglas DC-2 up to a complete Boeing 747-200B donated by KLM, the national flag carrier.
