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The Fokker M.2, while not a success itself, did see Fokker’s first use of welded steel-tube construction. The M.1 fuselage had been a simple aluminium structure, sturdy but heavy. For the M.2 Fokker combined ideas from two other aircraft builders. From the Kuhlstein Torpedo he took the idea of a fuselage with a circular cross-section. From Jeannin he took the idea of constructing a fuselage from a framework of steel tubes covered with fabric. This reduced the amount of metal needed and thus the weight of the fuselage. On the M.2 Fokker started with a square welded steel-tube fuselage, and then added a wooden outer structure with formers to give the shape and light stringers to support the fabric.
The M.2 was entered in a German Army aircraft contest at Döberitz in August 1913, for two-seater aircraft capable of being easily dismantled for transport. The aircraft did not perform well in the tests at Döberitz, where it was judged to be unfit for military use, directionally unstable (i.e. hard to fly in a straight line) and also hard to steer. Fokker would later claim that he received orders for ten M.2s from the German army, but this claim does not appear to be supported by official documentation. Fokker was often a rather shameless publicist, so this claim may have been made to improve the credibility of later designs.