Kondor Flugzeugwerke
| Kondor-Flugzeugwerke GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Company with limited liability |
| founding | June 15, 1912 |
| resolution | 1918 |
| Reason for dissolution | Liquidation after the First World War |
| Seat | Essen , Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen , Germany |
| management | Walter Rethel (chief designer) |
| Number of employees | around 1200 (1918) |
| Branch | Aircraft manufacturer |
The Kondor Flugzeugwerke were a production facility for aircraft in the Ruhr area .
history
The Kondor aircraft factory founded on June 15, 1912 with headquarters in Essen had their main factory on the site of the former Essen-Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen airfield . In the company's own flight school, prospective pilots were able to acquire the necessary license (pilot's license), which entitles them to pilot an aircraft.
In the years before the First World War , the manufacturer made a name for itself with the Kondor Taube model . The Kondor Taube, like the designs from other manufacturers, was very similar to the then known and successful Etrich-Rumpler Taube . The first flight of a condor pigeon is dated October 12, 1912. In addition to the pigeon, the Albatros B.II model was manufactured in industrial series production under license from Albatros Flugzeugwerke from October 1916 . By the end of the war in 1918, around 480 aircraft of various types were built in Rotthausen and around 1200 people were employed. During the war years, some of the company's own aircraft designs (reconnaissance aircraft, training and fighter aircraft) were created, but they did not get beyond the experimental stage or were only built in very small numbers. Most aircraft types were created from 1916 onwards under the chief designer Walter Rethel (1892–1977). Commercial aircraft were also designed, but also not developed further until they were ready for series production.
Prototype of the German Kondor D 1 fighter aircraft, 1917/1918
Prototype of the German Kondor D 2 fighter aircraft, 1917/1918
Prototype of the German Kondor D 6 fighter aircraft, 1918
After the First World War, the Kondor aircraft factory was liquidated. The company continued to exist and produced furniture from 1920. The company was finally dissolved in 1993 in Lemgo / Ostwestfalen-Lippe . Today the former Kondor factory in Lemgo is home to the Kondor industrial park with the advertising agency sagner-heinze , restaurants and the event center in the old boiler house.
literature
- Wolfgang Wagner: The planes of the Kondor works. Gelsenkirchen 1974 (Aerokurier magazine).
- Hugo Rieth: The Kondor aircraft works 1912–1918. Essen 1975 (yearbook 1975/76).
- Walter Zuerl: Walter Rethel. Steinebach 1977 (Der Flieger magazine).
- Guido Rißmann-Ottow: Fighter planes and pilots for the fatherland - The Kondor-Flugzeugwerke GmbH Essen-Ruhr. Industrial culture. No. 4/2000, pp. 12-13.
- Guido Rißmann-Ottow: Good luck! Early aviation in the area. Essen 2002.
- Frank Radzicki: The dream of flying in the Ruhr area. Erfurt 2006.
- Rainer A. Krewerth: A Westphalian Aviation Life - Josef Suwelack 1888-1915. Munster 2001.
