United aeronautical works

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United Flugtechnische Werke (VFW) GmbH
legal form Company with limited liability
founding 1961
resolution 1981
Reason for dissolution Merger with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm to form MBB
Seat Bremen , Germany
Branch Aircraft manufacturer

The United Flugtechnischen Werke (VFW) was an aerospace company based in Bremen . The company, created in 1961 through the merger of Focke-Wulf and Weserflug , became part of the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm aviation group in 1981 .

history

In 1961, the two Bremen aircraft manufacturers, Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau GmbH and Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH ("Weserflug") merged to form the United Flight Technical Works (VFW) with headquarters in Bremen. One of the goals was to jointly develop a small commercial aircraft that was suitable for use on unpaved airfields. In December 1963, this project was integrated into the VFW company as VFW 614 .

As early as 1961, the company outsourced its space activities to the newly founded Entwicklungsring Nord ( ERNO ). This promised better efficiency in the new space market. In contrast, the aircraft construction division of Ernst Heinkel Fahrzeugbau was integrated into the group in 1964 .

In May 1969 the central company VFW-Fokker was founded , in which VFW and the Dutch company Fokker each held 50%. In the following year, Airbus Industries was created in the form of an economic interest group. The founding members were the state-owned French Aérospatiale and Deutsche Airbus GmbH , which in turn was a consortium of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (60%), Dornier (20%) and VFW-Fokker (20%). When the production of the VFW-614 was imminent at the end of the 1970s, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen took a stake in VFW-Fokker. In 1980 the central company VFW-Fokker was dissolved.

1981 VFW merged with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm to form MBB. After the merger with the space company ERNO, MBB-ERNO emerged in 1982 . In 1988 the company had 40,000 employees at 18 locations and was ranked third among European aerospace companies. At the end of 1989, MBB-ERNO was taken over by Deutsche Aerospace AG ( DASA ) (part of what was then the Daimler-Benz group).

Products

In 1968 the company presented the VFW H-2 , a lightweight autogiro . The following year it presented the VFW H-3 helicopter . It was a test helicopter with which novel propulsion concepts were to be tested. As a cross between autogiro and helicopter, the main rotor was only driven for hovering. Two turbofan engines were available for propulsion. This guy didn't go into production.

In 1970 the VFW-Fokker VAK 191 B was created . The aircraft was initially developed jointly with Fiat as the successor to the light bomber Fiat G.91 . The VAK 191 was designed as a VTOL -capable aircraft with a cruise engine and 2 lift engines. Fiat got out of this project in 1967, so that the aircraft was only fully developed as an experimental object. It later served as a test vehicle for the Panavia Tornado . The VAK 191 program was finally discontinued in 1972.

In 1974 the VFW-Fokker 614 came onto the market. The VFW 614 was the first twin-engine short-range jet developed in the Federal Republic of Germany . The most striking feature of the aircraft are the engines that are arranged above the wings , which in this position should be better protected from falling rocks and dirt. Three copies were delivered to the Air Force in 1977 , which they used in flight readiness until 1998 . The last copy of the VFW 614 in use was used as a flying simulator by the German Aerospace Center in Braunschweig until June 27, 2012 (ATTAS project, Advanced Technologies Testing Aircraft System).

In the 1970s, the Hoykenkamp plant near Delmenhorst also produced camping trailers and later hydraulically operated tail lifts for commercial vehicles under the name VFW.

See also

Web links