Bucker aircraft construction
Bücker Flugzeugbau was a German aircraft construction company that specialized in the development and construction of sport and training aircraft. Carl Clemens Bücker , a former naval aviator of the First World War , founded the company in 1933 in Berlin-Johannisthal , from where it was rebuilt in 1935 by Herbert Rimpl and Otto Meyer Ottens in a larger plant based on the ideas of the Bauhaus school in Rangsdorf near Berlin moved. After the end of the Second World War, the company was stopped.
Bücker founded in 1921 in Lidingö (Sweden) Svenska Aero with the purpose of parts and aircraft Caspar-Werke and Heinkel as under license to manufacture, since at the time under the provisions of the Versailles Treaty no military aircraft in the German Reich of the Weimar Republic built were allowed to be. He was later followed from Sweden by his chief designer Anders J. Anderson to Berlin. The collaboration with Anderson resulted in aircraft that made the name Bücker known all over the world and which were also built under license abroad on various occasions. Increasingly, but not from the start, the Air Force also appeared as a client. After the end of the war and the complete collapse of the company, the factory facilities were confiscated and used by the Soviet armed forces in Germany . Since the withdrawal of all military from Germany and thus also from Rangsdorf, the remaining facilities have been falling into disrepair.
history
1933 to 1934
In the early 1930s the Bücker company had difficulties selling its products to the new Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM). Although this was principally interested in production facilities for aircraft for the secret construction of the air force , Bücker did not seem to fit into the concept. In a memo from the RLM dated December 1, 1933, it says: “The Technical Office has no interest in Bücker Flugzeugbau as a construction or replica company (...) impossible to consider a company against which the known objections (foreign Capital from the economic side, secrecy, undesirable masses of the aircraft industry in Johannisthal). "
Despite the official rejection, the aircraft types Bü 131 Jungmann and Bü 133 Jungmeister achieved worldwide sales successes. Several countries, including Switzerland, were interested in the reproduction rights. Only the Air Force initially showed no interest in Bücker aircraft. The name does not appear in the aircraft procurement program of March 31, 1934. At a development meeting in December 1934 under the direction of LC II von Richthofen, training aircraft in the 60 to 80 hp range were expressly rejected, i.e. exactly the class in which the Bü 131 A with its HM 60 R engine was. It was probably precisely this decision that prompted Bücker a little later to convert the aircraft from the B series to the more powerful HM 504 A engine with 105 hp. The first aircraft of this version with the registration D-EJUF can be found in the flight log of the one-flyer Josef Beier only on February 1, 1936. It is also not surprising that an aircraft Bü 131 B (D-EJFI, serial number 269) in one The aircraft development program does not appear until October 1, 1936, with the remark "Conversion to engine HM 504", with the date of the assignment to the industry 7.36, the completion and the start of testing at the Rechlin testing center at 8.36. This aircraft must also be documented in several Rechliner flight books.
The Bü 131 is no longer included in the next development program or the one after that from April 1, 1937. Instead, the Bü 133 appears with a Siemens Sh 14 A engine , with an order for 6 V-planes (V-1 to V-6), but once with the note "Company development" and under comments: "Sample will not be procured ". The Luftwaffe then placed an order for the delivery of the Bü 131 and later the Bü 133 to the company, probably under the impression of the international success of the two Bücker aircraft. But Bücker was put under pressure on the price, as the sums actually paid show: for a young man 12,000 RM , for a young master 14,000 RM. In comparison, Klemm received 17,500 RM for a Kl 35 , as much as for a Focke-Wulf Fw 44 . A Heinkel He 72 also achieved 16,000 RM. All these prices were only undercut by that of the Klemm Kl 25 , for which only 10,600 RM were paid.
1935 to 1936
Despite these difficult conditions and without a secure order cushion, Bücker managed to put his new production facility into operation in the autumn of 1935 at the Reichssportflughafen created in Rangsdorf . Bücker was able to win over the construction department of the Heinkel-Werke under the direction of Herbert Rimpl for the planning , whereby Otto Meyer-Ottens - he had previously been one of Walter Gropius' closest collaborators and chief architect in his office - was appointed as the project architect for the new building.
Soon more and more of the two types of aircraft were being built in the hangars. Larger orders from Romania and Hungary, among others, but also from the Dutch East Indies and Japan helped him. In 1936, Switzerland selected the two Bücker aircraft as their standard training aircraft after comparing them with many competing brands, bought six each from Bücker and acquired the reproduction rights. At the Swiss production facility of the Dornier company in Altenrhein SG , called "Doflug", 88 Bü 131 and 46 Bü 133 were then built. These then served for over thirty years until they had to be technically separated. Some surviving or reconstructed Bücker aircraft are privately owned and airworthy. By 1936 the Bücker aircraft had proven to be outstanding all over the world. The junior master stood after many victories in aerobatics competitions reputed to be the best aerobatic aircraft in the world. Whether Liesel Bach or the autodidact Otto Heinrich Graf von Hagenburg , German aerobatic pilots took first places almost everywhere and made the name of the Rangsdorf company more and more popular.
There was another point where Bücker was ahead of his time. He was the first to make his aircraft available to female pilots. During his work in Johannisthal, for example, he hired Luise Hoffmann, who was just 24 years old, as a flyer, transfer and demonstration pilot. Unfortunately, on the flight home from a demonstration tour to Greece , Turkey and Bulgaria, she had a serious accident and died shortly afterwards on November 27, 1935. The same chance was given to two other young aviators, Eva Schmidt and Beate Köstlin , who came with them after they were married her and Schmidt's flight instructor was named Uhse. Both won victories at various events with Bücker planes.
1937 to 1940
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At the Technical Office of the Air Force, despite the transfer of management from Colonel Wimmer to Ernst Udet, who was now also Colonel, on June 10, 1936, no fundamental change in attitude with regard to major government contracts could be seen. A development program meeting on January 20, 1937 under the direction of Major Werner Junck , who had meanwhile followed von Richthofen in the direction of LC II and participated in the Roluf Lucht, now senior staff engineer , showed that for the companies Weser Flugzeugbau (previously Rohrbach ), Bücker, Ago , Klemm and Fieseler "no further tasks are available and are not to be expected, since tasks that arise in the future could be carried out by the other development companies". In contrast, these companies were recommended to develop a people's aircraft with engines from 50 to 60 hp. The idea led to corresponding new designs at Klemm ( Kl 105 ), Siebel ( Si 202 ) and Fieseler ( Fi 253 ), but obviously also at Bücker ( Bü 180 ).
The Bücker Bü 131 still led a shadowy existence with the Luftwaffe , as can be seen from the aircraft procurement program No. 8 of July 15, 1937. After that, by March 31, 1937 363 Bü 131 and 14 Bücker Bü 133s had been taken over, compared to 653 He 72 and even 1570 Fw 44. In addition, 85 of the latter were built by Bücker himself as an RLM order under license, certainly not with enthusiasm. On May 21, 1939, the crash of a goldfinch from the neighboring Reichsschule für Motorflug above the Bücker approach hangar destroyed 40–50 aircraft ready for delivery. As a result of this catastrophe, the delivery rate of the Bü 131 fell to zero for two months. The army had apparently already taken a liking to the aircraft, so a solution was found at the RLM to increase production: The Aero company in Prague was now available after the establishment of the Bohemian-Moravia Protectorate . They received the order to build 200 Bü 131 units under license. These aircraft were delivered until September 1941.
The following two drafts by Anderson, the Bü 134 sports plane, which was only built as a single piece, and the Bü 180 Student , could well have resulted from the implementation of the "people's plane" idea proposed by LC II. However, the Bü 134 fell out of line with the performance of the built-in HM 504 A engine with 105 hp. The NSFK , which came into question as a major buyer of such an aircraft, however, showed no interest, so that only a small series was made. The fact that world records were set with the student did not change that. But some of them were sold abroad. Udet had also flown the plane with pleasure, so that in the end the Air Force took over a few students , although the plane did not fit into the concept described above. The last model designed by Anderson at Bücker, the Bü 182 cornet , of which only three were built, did not meet with approval from the RLM, although the idea embodied in it of getting an advanced training aircraft that is cheap but highly stressable in operation, had a lot to himself.
A new opportunity opened up for Bücker when, at the end of 1937 / beginning of 1938, four older training aircraft in service had to be replaced by new acquisitions. Although there was no official tender, Bücker developed the Bücker Bü 181 , in which, at the time, which was unusual for a trainer, flight instructors and students sat next to each other.
In the absence of further competition (Klemm alone worked in a similar direction), the RLM designated the Bü 181 as the Air Force's new standard training aircraft. A large-scale series, later with two other manufacturing companies, replaced all other previous training aircraft.
1937–1940, Bücker had his factory in Rangsdorf expanded according to plans by the Berlin architect Otto Werner . Among other things, a new one-flyer hall and a final assembly hall were built, as well as a so-called “special building” in 1940 for the development and construction of secret orders for the armaments industry .
1941 to 1944
During the war , Bücker manufactured parts for the Ju 87 dive bomber , the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter and the Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb . This also came forced laborers from Italy , the Soviet Union and other countries for use. Up to 500 people lived in the company's own warehouse under poor conditions.
The fact that Bücker was also involved in the development of propeller sleds during the war has remained almost unknown . A captured Soviet sledge served as a model and comparison option. The device was demonstrated to some specialists, but did not go into series production.
After 1945
The end of the war meant the final end for the company. Soviet special forces came to the undestroyed area and serviced the engines. The hangars and the airfield later served as the location and departure point for helicopters. For the military stationed here, additional buildings were built and finally the inhabitants spoke of a town that was shielded and guarded.
At the end of the 1950s, C. C. Bücker, together with the Josef Bitz company in Augsburg , attempted to resume small-scale production of his successful Bü 131 Jungmann and Bü 133 Jungmeister aircraft , which are still highly valued by enthusiasts , but were unsuccessful.
Post-turnaround time
After the fall of the Wall in 1994, all Soviet units also withdrew from the former Bücker factories. The property initially became the property of the federal government and in 1999 was divided between the municipality of Rangsdorf and the state of Brandenburg . After the former factory settlement on Walther-Rathenau-Straße had been renovated, the community looked for new uses for the factory premises and its halls, which are now under monument protection . In the meantime, a financially strong Polish investor made an attempt to replicate Bü 131 aircraft in the still functional hangars. The project failed due to the resistance of the residents in the surrounding residential areas, who feared the noise caused by the production and, albeit small, flight operations. In 2006, an artist couple from Berlin bought the canteen and social building and had the building converted into a residential building with a studio. In 2018, the terraplan group from Nuremberg, represented by Erik Roßnagel, acquired the former hangars and halls. In cooperation with the municipality, a new district with apartments and public facilities in the historic halls and in new buildings is to be built on the site as part of a conversion project , and the airfield is to be preserved as a public park.
Access to the factory premises is currently closed to the public. The Friends of the Bücker Museum Rangsdorf e. V. , which is dedicated to researching Bücker aircraft construction and its work, offers regular guided tours.
literature
- Siegfried Wietstruk: Rangsdorf near Berlin. On the history of the airfield and the "Bücker-Flugzeugbau GmbH" In: Brandenburgische Denkmalpflege . tape 5 , no. 1 . Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 1996, p. 65-70 .
- Siegfried Wietstruk: Rangsdorf airfield near Berlin. From Rühmann to Morosow . GVE, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89218-013-X .
- Siegfried Wietstruk: Carl Clemens Bücker. From naval aviator to aircraft designer . Friends of the Bücker Museum Rangsdorf e. V., Rangsdorf 2005.
Web links
- Bücker Aviation Museum Rangsdorf
- Quax association for historical aircraft with its own Bü 131 and Bü 181
- Rangsdorf airfield - condition 2012
- Image documentation Bücker-Werke Rangsdorf, status 2007/2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Mysterious places - Rangsdorf Airport. Broadcast by the rbb in the 2010s
- ↑ see for example: Karin Wilhelm, "Walter Gropius. Industriearchitekt", Vieweg, Braunschweig and Wiesbaden 1983, p. 283 and: https://www.b-tu.de/forschung/graduiertenkolleg/forschung/forschungsprojekte/walter-gropius -architekturbuero Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Sollich 2013, pp. 47–48.
- ↑ Airport-Data com. Aircraft HB-MKM Data , accessed October 4, 2018.
- ↑ Sollich 2013, pp. 48–50.
- ↑ There were good people and bastards , In: Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung , January 13, 2005. Quoted from buecker-museum.de ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Wietstruk 2001, p. 93.
- ^ Gudrun Schneck: Minister thanks artists for renovating protected Bücker buildings . In: Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung . June 16, 2008.
- ↑ Two settlements on the Bücker site. Retrieved on November 7, 2018 (German).
