Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke
| Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Company with limited liability |
| founding | 1913 |
| resolution | 1964 |
| Reason for dissolution | Takeover by the United Flugtechnischen Werke (VFW) |
| Seat | Speyer , Germany |
| management |
|
| Number of employees |
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| Branch | Aircraft manufacturer |
The Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer during the First World War on the site of today's technology-Museum Speyer . In the immediate vicinity in the Third Reich and since 1955 there were various companies in the aircraft and vehicle construction sector, with the latter developing into today's company PFW Aerospace GmbH - "Pfalz Flugzeugwerke" with 1,800 employees and € 339 million in sales (as of 2015).
Company history
Founding years 1913/14
The Pfalz Flugzeugwerke GmbH in Speyer was founded in 1913 in the Pfalz (Bavaria) by Alfred Eversbusch and his brother Ernst. Other co-founders were Ernst Eversbusch's brother-in-law Willy Sabersky-Müssigbrodt and the three investors Richard , Eugen Kahn and August Kahn, who were not related to the Eversbusch brothers. On July 12, 1913, the company was entered in the commercial register under the following name: “The company's object is the construction of aircraft and the training of pilots, as well as doing all business that is suitable for promoting the company.” Walther Eversbusch, the third brother , had just got his pilot's license from Morane-Saulnier in France.
The project was funded by the Bavarian government. After the city of Speyer had provided an area of 7000 m² for the installation of factory halls, production of the French Morane-Saulnier Parasol began in July 1914 as a license building . Otto military double-deckers were also manufactured, one of which was shipped to Africa in 1914. During the First World War, this double-decker was supposed to render valuable service to the German protection force in the fight for the colony of German East Africa .
1914 to 1918
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By the time the war broke out, the company had just manufactured three Parasols, and three more Otto double-deckers were under construction for the Royal Bavarian Air Force . During the war, Pfalz manufactured LFG (Roland) and Rumpler aircraft, also under license. In November 1916, Rudolph Gehringer was recruited by the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen GmbH company , under whose leadership the experience in building the Roland aircraft resulted in numerous in-house designs, some of them very successful, including the Pfalz EI , D.III fighter aircraft and D.XII . Towards the end of the war, the Pfalz-Werke had 2,600 workers; In October 1918 alone, 157 new machines left the factory. A total of around 2500 aircraft were delivered during the war.
1919 until today
After the armistice and the dismantling of the production facilities, Pfalz Flugzeugwerke had to file for bankruptcy under the French occupation . On June 4, 1919 AG Pfalz was newly registered; shipbuilding as well as the production and sale of industrial goods were documented as the company's purpose. The company went under in the general depression in 1932.
In 1937, the Saarpfalz airframe was established on the factory premises, again concentrating on aircraft construction and overhaul, including the Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 . The company already had 200 employees in 1937, 500 when the war broke out and 1,500 towards the end of the war, many of them slave laborers . When the Allied troops approached in March 1945, work was stopped.
In 1955 Ernst Heinkel discovered the fallow industrial plant and had a total of 3800 Heinkel cabins built there for Ernst Heinkel-Fahrzeugbau for five years , up to 50 per day. As early as 1956 there were activities in aircraft construction again. In addition to vehicle production from 1957 to 1959, repair and maintenance work for a wide variety of aircraft were also carried out.
Ernst Heinkel died six days after his 70th birthday on January 30, 1958. Soon afterwards, his company was renamed Speyer in his honor and due to increasing aircraft construction activities to Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugbau GmbH.
From 1958 to 1964, numerous aircraft were developed and mass-produced, and aircraft components were manufactured. These include: wings and tail units for the licensed construction of the Lockheed F-104 "Starfighter" , series production of the Fiat G.91 , construction devices and components for the Fokker F-27 Friendship airliner and development of our own HE 211 airliner.
The factory was bought by the United Flugtechnischen Werke (VFW) in 1964 , and in 1983 it became part of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm , which became part of Deutsche Airbus in 1991 . In the following years, the name was changed to Deutsche Aerospace Airbus GmbH and in 1995 to Daimler-Benz Aerospace Airbus GmbH.
When the Daimler-Benz Aerospace / Airbus plant in Speyer was to be sold or closed as part of the “Dolores” program in 1997, it was taken over independently by the 527 employees under the traditional name Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke GmbH (PFW) . Today the company operates under the name PFW Aerospace GmbH .
Types produced in the First World War
Morane Type L, prototype for the monoplane replicas of 1914/15
Palatinate EI
Palatinate D.IIIa of Jasta 5
Test pilot Otto Augst in a Pfalz D.XII
Palatinate D.XV
- AI - scout
- A.II - scouts
- EI - single-seater hunting, monoplane
- E.II - single- seater hunting, monoplane
- E.III - single- seater hunting, monoplane
- E.IV - single- seater hunting, monoplane
- EV - single-seater hunting, monoplane
- E.VI - single- seater hunting, monoplane
- Dr.I - single-seater hunting, triplane
- Dr.II - single-seater hunting, triplane
- DI - hunting single-seater, double-decker
- D.II - hunting single -seater, double-decker
- D.III - hunting single-seater, double-decker
- D.IV - hunting single -seater, double-decker
- D.VI - hunting single -seater, double-decker
- D.VII - hunting single -seater, double-decker
- D.VIII - single-seater hunting, double-decker
- D.XI - hunting single-seater , double-decker
- D.XII - hunting single -seater, double-decker
- D.XIII - single-seater hunting, double-decker
- D.XIV - single-seater hunting, double-decker
- D.XV - single-seater hunting, double-decker
See also
literature
- Peter M. Grosz, Peter Seelinger, Holger Steinle: The Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke GmbH 1913-1919 . Silberstreif, Landau 2015, ISBN 978-3-924091-07-1 .
- Günter Kroschel, Helmut Stützer: The German military aircraft 1910-18 , Wilhelmshaven 1977
- Kenneth Munson: Fighter planes 1914-19 , Zurich 1968
- Heinz Nowarra: The Development of Aircraft 1914-18 , Munich 1959
Web links
- WWI Airplane profile (Engl.)
- PFW Aerospace website
- GCT Group ( Memento from June 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )