Bavarian plane manufacturing
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) was the name of two different German companies:
- The first Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) registered in Munich on March 7, 1916, was given the name Bayerische Motorenwerke AG (BMW) during its restructuring in 1922 (which was also the second time it was given).
- The second Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) , founded in 1923 in Augsburg , was renamed Messerschmitt AG in 1938 . The subsidiary founded in July 1936 in Regensburg operated as Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Regensburg GmbH until November 1940 and then as Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg .
Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenwerke / Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (1916–1922) / BMW
In 1909 and 1911, respectively, Gustav Otto founded Aeroplanbau Otto & Alberti and Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenwerke in Munich . In addition to the machines from the French company Blériot , he also sold the double-deckers from the Alsatian Aviatik GmbH . During the First World War, there was a temporary collaboration with Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH owned by Karl Rapp . After in-house developments had proven to be unsuccessful, the Albatros aircraft works were built under license . Nevertheless Otto got into financial difficulties. After the bankruptcy in early 1916, his company became Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) . The 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty banned Germany from producing aircraft, so the BFW had to adapt. In 1922 the major investor Camillo Castiglioni joined the BFW , he brought the engine construction department and the company name of the former Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) with him, which since 1920 has changed under the name of Süddeutsche Bremsen-AG ("Südbremse") Production branch had concentrated. Under the new name BMW , the former BFW produced engines for a wide variety of purposes, later also motorcycles and passenger cars.
Aircraft types
- BFW CL.I attack aircraft (1918)
- BFW CL.II attack aircraft (1918)
- BFW CL.III attack aircraft (1918)
- BFW E only attempt (1918)
- BFW Dr.NI only attempt (1918)
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (1923–1938) / Messerschmitt AG
The second Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG acquired the hangars and factory airfield of the former " Bayerische Rumpler-Werke " in 1926 on Haunstetter Strasse south of downtown Augsburg . In 1927, the BFW signed a cooperation agreement with the up-and-coming Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau GmbH in Bamberg . Its owner, Willy Messerschmitt, took over Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1928 together with a financial group around Baron Michel-Raulino. In 1929 Paul John Hall moved to the BFW as chief engineer at the Raab-Katzenstein-Flugzeugwerke . After two Messerschmitt M20 machines crashed in 1930 and 1931, however, the BFW collapsed again in the global economic crisis . The Bamberg company continued to manufacture aircraft until the BFW were able to resume operations in 1933. Willy Messerschmitt and his team won several development competitions with their Bf 108 “Taifun” and the Bf 109 aircraft in the 1930s. In September 1938 the company changed from Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG to Messerschmitt AG . The aircraft developed after the renaming were given the abbreviation “Me” instead of “Bf”, although the aircraft types that existed to date officially retained the abbreviation “Bf”. In particular, the Bf 109 and Bf 110 models were and are not quite appropriately referred to as Me 109 or Me 110 in many publications.
literature
- Heinz Nowarra: Airplanes 1914–1918, Munich 1914–1918
- Karl R. Pawlas: German Aircraft 1914-18 . Nuremberg 1976, ISBN 3-88088-209-6 .
- Peter Schmoll: The Messerschmitt Works in World War II . Mittelbayerische Druck- und Verlags-GmbH, Regensburg, 1998, ISBN 3-931904-38-5
Web links
- Jürgen Seidl: Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW). In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . Bayerische Staatsbibliothek , June 25, 2013, accessed on May 7, 2008 .