A.Weyl Fokker: The Creative Years (Putnam)

The V.42 glider

   Platz was a persistent man. Once he was certain that a suggestion of Fokker’s was impractical, he did not rest until he could prove that his own way was the better one. The V.30 experiment had annoyed him. When Fokker had asked him to convert a Fok. D.VIII for towing, Platz had proposed designing a more suitable glider, but Fokker would not have it. Now Platz would show Fokker how it should be done.
   In Platz’s view, a glider should be able to operate from land or water. The V.42 was therefore designed to have either a simple, ply-skinned box-like float attached directly to the lower longerons, or a simple V-type wheel undercarriage. The fuselage was a welded steel-tube structure, covered with fabric. The cantilever wing was also fabric-covered, and was attached directly to the upper longerons. Its area was 10-2 sq. m. (110 sq. ft.). The cockpit was in the leading edge of the wing. This was an unfortunate feature, for the cut-out and the pilot’s head spoiled the airflow over the wing.
   All controls were plain, unbalanced surfaces. There was a triangular fin in the tail unit, and the ailerons reached to the wing tips.
A release for the towing cable was fitted to the upper longeron joint at the nose. This device was, in its simplicity, typical of Platz: it consisted simply of a pair of pliers and parts of a turnbuckle.
   The V.42 glider was not flown at Schwerin. It was sent to Amsterdam and was tested on the Ymuiden Canal in 1919. Parge was the pilot, and Fokker towed it from a motor boat. The glider handled well, but its performance was limited by the short towing cable, which restricted the altitude to 150 ft. But Fokker was no longer interested in gliders.