Focke-Wulf

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Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau AG

logo
legal form Aktiengesellschaft (from 1936 GmbH )
founding October 24, 1923 (as Bremer Flugzeugbau AG )
resolution 1963
Reason for dissolution Merger with Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH to form the United Flight Technology Works (VFW)
Seat Bremen , Germany
management
Branch Aircraft manufacturer

The Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau AG (from 1936 GmbH) was a German aircraft manufacturer from Bremen . The company, founded in 1923, merged with Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH in 1963 to form the United Flight Technical Works (VFW) .

history

Destroyed Focke-Wulf plant in Bremen (1945)

Henrich Focke , Georg Wulf and Hans Kolthoff jointly designed the A 4 motorized aircraft in 1912. In autumn 1914, they left their sixth draft A 6, which was still under construction, to join the air force. After the war, Focke and Wulf built the two-seater A 7 Storch , which took off for the first time in November 1921, but was destroyed and rebuilt a short time later by a storm. On October 24, 1923, they founded the Bremer Flugzeugbau AG . From this the Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau AG was founded in Bremen on January 1st, 1924. The founders were the Bremen merchants Otto Bernhard , Otto Schurig and Ludwig Roselius , as well as Henrich Focke as construction manager, Georg Wulf as test manager and Dr. Werner Naumann as commercial manager. On April 29, 1926, the company was renamed Norddeutsche Luftverkehr AG . Wulf died on a test flight in 1927.

In response to government pressure, Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau AG merged with the illiquid Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH , Berlin, in September 1931. In 1936 the stock corporation was converted into a GmbH .

Henrich Focke left the company management in 1933. He was still involved in the development of the rotary wing aircraft Focke-Wulf Fw 61 . Technical management passed to Kurt Tank . Instead, Henrich Focke founded the company Focke, Achgelis und Co. GmbH in Delmenhorst in 1937 , which specialized in the development of helicopters and gyroscopes . The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was then renamed Focke-Achgelis Fa 61. At the beginning of the war, a large branch was built in Marienburg . Another plant was created in Sorau . In 1944 Focke, Achgelis and Co. merged with Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH (colloquially known as "Weserflug"). In January 1945 the co-founder Senator Bernhard became chairman of the supervisory board.

After the Second World War , aircraft production initially had to be stopped; The Allies also dismantled some of the tools and equipment . Part of the hangar was used by Nordmende from 1947 . In 1951 Focke-Wulf took up the construction of gliders, in 1955 that of powered aircraft. The space division was spun off in 1961 and incorporated into the new company ERNO .

In 1963 Focke-Wulf merged with Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH to form the United Flight Technical Works (VFW) . The company parts later became the property of EADS and Airbus .

Products

Planes

1932 - Focke-Wulf Fw 44
1939 - Focke-Wulf Fw 190
1943 - Focke-Achgelis Fa 330

The first aircraft manufactured after the company was founded was the Focke-Wulf A 16 , a small commercial aircraft. Another was the duck- style F 19 , during which Georg Wulf was killed on September 29, 1927.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor" was designed as a commercial aircraft for flights between Berlin and New York (without a stopover). During the war it was also used as a bomber and long-range reconnaissance aircraft. The "Condor" had a far greater range than any other mass-produced German bomber. "In honor of the Condor pilots, Ludwig Roselius (entrepreneur) had a memorial plaque installed in Böttcherstrasse (Bremen ) after the successful flight to the USA , which was to commemorate the pioneering work of the Focke-Wulf works."

The Fw 190 was built under Kurt Tank's direction. It is considered to be one of the best fighters of the Second World War. The Fw 190, also known as the " Würger ", was superior to the British fighter planes Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VB and Hawker Hurricane in terms of performance and armament when it was launched . The supply of the first series machines to the front units began in mid-1941.

helicopter

Focke-Wulf Fw 30
Focke-Wulf Fw 61
Borgward hummingbird

The Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau AG built in the years 1932 to 1938 under the license of the British company Cierva Autogiro 43 gyrocopter of the type Cierva C.30 , which became known in Germany under the name "Fw 30 Heuschrecke", and thus gained experience for building their own helicopters.

Henrich Focke invented and constructed the world's first airworthy and fully controllable helicopter , the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 from 1936.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Focke-Wulf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FliegerRevue February 2010; Pp. 56-58; Focke-Wulf's birds
  2. ^ Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X , pp. 73, 268.
  3. ↑ NLA OL Rep 400 Order 138 No. 355 - Administrative dispute of… - Arcinsys detail page. Retrieved February 27, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Volker Bergmann, Willi Elmers, Manfred Fittkau, Michael Jung, Dieter Pliegensdörfer, Michael Wolf with the collaboration of: Wolfgang Guenther .: Wellblech & Windkanal. Work and business in aircraft construction in Bremen from the beginning until today. Ed .: Steintor 1989. ISBN 3-926028-51-3 .