Alfons Pützer KG

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Alfons Pützer KG
legal form Limited partnership
founding 1949, December 14, 1950 (HRA Bonn 97)
resolution July 13, 1987
Reason for dissolution Transfer of company
Seat Bonn , Germany
management
  • Rudolf Pützer (Operations Manager since 1966)
  • Rudolf Pützer (managing director since 1977)
Branch Aircraft manufacturer

Alfons Pützer KG was a wood processing company for industrial assembly production founded by Alfons Pützer in Bonn in 1949 , which also began manufacturing aircraft in 1953.

Company history

When Alfons Pützer returned to Bonn from captivity in 1945, he initially devoted himself to building up his father's family business that had been destroyed in the war. In 1948 he handed over the medium-sized turnery to his eldest brother.

Alfons Pützer then founded his own wood processing company in Bonn for the production of industrial assemblies. He bought a family property in Bornheimer Straße 133 for the company, where an office barrack, two workshop buildings and a wood store were built. On December 14, 1950, the company was registered under the name "Alfons Pützer KG" at the Bonn District Court under the number HRA 97.

The first orders came from the fashion industry. Pützer KG manufactured model molds for hats and shoes in the textile industry. Orders for the construction of industrial assemblies in wood followed later. Unlike many of his colleagues, Alfons Pützer did not immediately get into aircraft construction after the approval of gliding in Germany in 1951. While 1951-52 was one in the Alfons Pützer KG Glider type Grunau Baby II . However, this aircraft was only intended for Alfons Pützer's private purposes.

Aircraft construction department at Alfons Pützer KG

It was not until his childhood friend Walter Horten asked him in 1953 to build the prototype of the flying wing Horten Ho 33 designed by Walter Horten at Alfons Pützer KG that Alfons Pützer set up an aircraft construction department within Alfons Pützer KG. Although the Horten Ho 33 was intended from the outset for later retrofitting to a motorized aircraft , the construction turned out to be too complicated for series production. In the meantime, however, Alfons Pützer intended, after the release of motorized flight in Germany, to start series production of simple motorized aircraft that should be affordable for the largest possible group of buyers.

Since 1954, Alfons Pützer worked with Fritz Raab , whose Doppelraab was one of the most successful glider designs in the early Federal Republic of Germany. Pützer suggested the further development of the Doppelraab into a motorized aircraft, for which Fritz Raab provided the necessary construction documents. At Alfons Pützer KG, four prototypes were then created under the name Pützer Motorraab , of which the first prototype took off on its maiden flight a few hours after the motorized flight was released in West Germany. The enlarged Pützer Elster emerged from the Motorraab in 1957, also from a collaboration between Pützer and Raab , which was developed on a specification of the Federal Air Force for the initial equipment of their sport flying groups.

After Pützer Elster had won the Air Force tender and the Federal Air Force had placed the procurement order for this aircraft, Alfons Pützer KG expanded the aircraft construction department, which had previously only been designed for individual pieces. The manufacture of individual components took place within the framework of industrial timber construction. The individual elements were assembled into aircraft assemblies in the aircraft construction department. The finished fuselages and wings were then transported by truck to the airfield in Bonn-Hangelar . There the final assembly and the flying in of the machines took place. Alfons Pützer KG also set up a maintenance company in Hangelar, which, in addition to the Pützer Elster, was also responsible for maintaining the other aircraft of the Bundeswehr's sport flight groups. Series production of the Pützer Elster started in 1958. Between 1959 and 1961, Alfons Pützer KG built up to ten aircraft per year. Alongside the Motorraab, the Pützer Elster was the only aircraft type produced in series at Alfons Pützer KG.

Otherwise, the aircraft construction department at Alfons Pützer KG was specialized in the construction of prototypes and test vehicles, which were subject to multiple modifications during the construction phase and later testing. This includes the test vehicle Pützer Dohle built for Walter Horten and the test vehicle Pützer Bussard derived from this for Karl Lürenbaum , which were used to test suitable long-distance drives. The Pützer Bussard was later converted again as a test vehicle for ring tail units for Erich Ufer . These test vehicles remained unique.

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Pützer MS-60 was the last aircraft developed by Alfons Pützer KG, with which Alfons Pützer created a motor glider optimized for the new K-Class motor glider in Germany, which is intended for later series production at Alfons Pützer KG was. Its heavy weight and the high calculated sales price prevented the start of series production. The MS-60 also remained a one-off.

Sales partner for Alpavia SA

While exploring the motor glider market in 1963, Alfons Pützer's attention was drawn to the Fournier RF-3 motorized aircraft designed by the French designer René Fournier , which largely fulfilled Pützer's ideas for a modern motor glider and was already being mass-produced by the French manufacturer Alpavia SA in Gap Tallard has been. In order to gain experience in the sales of such motor gliders in Germany, Alfons Pützer KG took over the rights to exclusive distribution of the RF-3 in Germany and Austria from Alpavia SA. At the end of 1964, 25 orders had already been placed for this new motor glider class.

Outsourcing of the aircraft construction department

Since the production capacities of Alpavia SA in Gap Tallard could no longer be sufficiently expanded to cover the European market and the capacities of the aircraft construction department of Alfons Pützer KG only allowed limited growth in Bornheimer Strasse, Antoine d'Assche and Alfons Pützer decided in 1964 the establishment of a new joint venture on the Dahlemer Binz under the name Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co KG . Antoine d'Assche brought his production operations from Gap Tallard, France, into this company, while Alfons Pützer relocated his aircraft construction department from Alfons Pützer KG from Bonn to the new company on the Dahlemer Binz.

As early as 1964, the maintenance operations of Alfons Pützer KG were relocated from Bonn-Hangelar to Dahlemer Binz. After the completion of the new production facility for the future Sportavia-Pützer, the rest of the aircraft construction department at Alfons Pützer KG moved to Dahlemer Binz in 1966. Here the last Pützer Elster were completed in 1966 for Alfons Pützer KG. From 1966, the entire organization of the former aircraft construction department of Alfons Pützer KG was on the Dahlemer Binz.

Development after 1966

After 1966, Alfons Pützer KG in Bornheimer Straße 133 concentrated again largely on industrial assembly production. After Alfons Pützer switched to the management of Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co. KG, his nephew Rudolf Pützer took over the management of Alfons Pützer KG in 1966.

For family reasons, Alfons Pützer parted ways with his financial interests in 1976. Alfons Pützer KG handed over Alfons Pützer in 1977 to his nephew Rudolf Pützer, who transferred the company to "Rudolf Pützer GmbH", which was entered in the Bonn commercial register on December 31, 1979 under number 2545 and which still exists today.

Alfons Pützer KG was officially deleted from the commercial register of the city of Bonn on July 13, 1987.

Demarcation

  1. The "Pützer Flugzeugbau KG" mentioned in many sources did not exist. The aircraft construction took place exclusively within the framework of an independent aircraft construction department within Alfons Pützer KG.
  2. The activities for basic research into the use of plastics in aircraft construction did not take place within the framework of Alfons Pützer KG, but were settled in the Pützer Kunststofftechnik GmbH & Co KG, which was founded especially for this purpose . The construction of the LFU 205 was also handled by Alfons Pützer through Pützer Kunststofftechnik GmbH. Pützer Kunststofftechnik GmbH was not affected by the merger of the aircraft construction department of Alfons Pützer KG and the French Alpavia to form Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co KG. Alfons Pützer carried out basic research through PKT until the 1970s, independently of the activities of Sportavia-Pützer.

Unless otherwise indicated, the information on the company's history has been taken from [3] .

Aircraft production

A total of 51 aircraft were built at Alfons Pützer KG between 1952 and 1964.

The highest production rate was achieved from 1959 to 1961 with 10-12 aircraft per year.

  • Grunau Baby II - one-off from 1952 as a private aircraft for Alfons Pützer
  • Horten Ho 33 - prototype construction for Walter Horten, two planes 1953/54
  • Pützer Motorraab - four prototypes 1955/56
  • Pützer Dohle - long-distance wave test vehicle for Walter Horten, single item 1956
  • Pützer Elster - first production aircraft at Alfons Pützer KG, 41 pieces 1957–1964, further machines on the Dahlemer Binz
  • Pützer Bussard - long-distance wave test vehicle for Prof. Karl Lürenbaum, single item 1958
  • Pützer MS-60 - motor glider prototype from 1959, unique item

A list of all aircraft built by Pützer can be found at

See also

literature

  • Paul Zöller, Hanns-Jakob Pützer: Pützer aircraft , Dec. 2018, ISBN 978-3-7481-2096-4
  • Pützer's sports aircraft. In: FliegerRevue X , No. 74 from 2018, pp. 84–96

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.northdata.de/Alfons+P%C3%BCtzer+KG,+B+o+n+n/Amtsgericht+Bonn+HRA+97
  2. ^ Paul Zöller: Fournier aircraft. 2017, ISBN 978-3-7460-4864-2
  3. ^ Paul Zöller, Hanns-Jakob Pützer: Pützer-Flugzeug , Dec. 2018, ISBN 978-3-7481-2096-4