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| Company type | AG, subsequentlyGmbH |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Defunct | 1968 |
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor |
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| Headquarters | , |
Key people | |
| Products | |
Messerschmitt AG (German pronunciation:[ˈmɛsɐʃmɪt]) was a Germanshare-ownership limited,aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designerWilly Messerschmitt frommid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for itsWorld War IIfighter aircraft, in particular theBf 109 andMe 262. The company survived in the post-war era, undergoing a number of mergers and changing its name from Messerschmitt toMesserschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm before being bought by Deutsche Aerospace (DASA, now part ofAirbus) in 1989.
In February 1916, the south German engineering companyMAN AG and several banks purchased the unprofitable aircraft builderOtto-Flugzeugwerke, starting a new company,Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (abbreviatedB.F.W., and meaning approximately "Bavarian Aircraft Factory").[1] The articles of association were drawn up on 19 and 20 February, and completed on 2 March 1916. Details of the company were recorded in the Commercial Register with an equity capital of RM 1,000,000 on 7 March 1916. 36% of the capital was provided by theBank für Handel und Industrie, Berlin, 30% by MAN AG and 34% by Hermann Bachstein, Berlin. The first Chairman of the Board of Management was Peter Eberwein, who had previously been employed atAlbatros Flugzeugwerke.
Due to the need for immediate aircraft production for the ongoing war, there was no time for development work and BFW manufactured aircraft under licence fromAlbatros Flugzeugwerke. Within a month of being set up, the company was able to supply aircraft to the war ministries ofPrussia andBavaria. However, major quality problems were encountered at the start. The German air crews frequently complained about the serious defects that appeared in the first machines from BFW. The same thing had happened with the aircraft from the predecessor company run by Gustav Otto. It was only organizational changes and more intensive supervision of the assembly line that succeeded in resolving these problems by the end of 1916. BFW then started turning out over 200 aircraft a month, with their workforce growing to 3,000 and becoming one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in Bavaria.
The end of the war hit BFW hard, since military demand for aircraft collapsed. The company's management were forced to look for new products with which to maintain their position in the market. Since World War I aircraft were largely built from wood to keep their weight down, BFW was equipped with the very latest joinery plant. The company still held stocks of materials sufficient for about 200 aircraft, and worth 4.7 million reichsmarks. The machinery and the materials were then used for the production of furniture and fitted kitchens. In addition, from 1921 onwards, the company manufactured motorcycles of its own design under the names of Flink and Helios.
In the autumn of 1921, Austrian financierCamillo Castiglioni first announced his interest in purchasing BFW. While most of the shareholders accepted his offer, MAN AG initially held on to its shareholding in BFW, but Castiglioni wanted to acquire all the shares. He was supported in this by BMW's Managing Director Franz Josef Popp who, in a letter to the chairman of MAN, described BFW as a "dead factory, which possesses no plant worth mentioning, and consists very largely of dilapidated and unsuitable wooden sheds situated in a town that is extremely unfavorable for industrial activities and whose status continues to give little cause for enthusiasm". Apparently Popp was still in close contact with Castiglioni and was perhaps even privy to the latter's plans for merging BMW with BFW. It was probably in the spring of 1922 that Castiglioni and Popp persuaded MAN to give up its shares in BFW, so that now the company belonged exclusively to Castiglioni. Then, in May of the same year, when the Italian-born investor was able to acquire BMW's engine business fromKnorr-Bremse AG, nothing more stood in the way of a merger between the aircraft company BFW and the engine builders BMW.
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW/Bavarian Aircraft Works) was reformed in 1926, inAugsburg,Bavaria, whenUdet Flugzeugbau GmbH was changed into a joint-stock company. In the early stages, BMW AG held a stake in this company and was represented byJosef Popp, who held a place on the Supervisory Board.[2]
Willy Messerschmitt joined the company in 1927 as chief designer and engineer and formed a design team.
One of the first designs, theMesserschmitt M20, was a near-catastrophe for the designer and the company. Many[citation needed] of the prototypes crashed, one of them killing Hans Hackmack, a close friend ofErhard Milch, the head ofDeutsche Luft Hansa and the German civil aviation authorities. Milch was upset by the lack of response from Messerschmitt and this led to a lifelong hatred towards him. Milch eventually cancelled all contracts with Messerschmitt and forced BFW into bankruptcy in 1931. However, Messerschmitt's friendship withHugo Junkers prevented a stagnation of the careers of him and BFW, which was started again in 1933. Milch still prevented Messerschmitt's takeover of the BFW until 1938, hence the designation "Bf" of early Messerschmitt designs.
Messerschmitt promoted a concept he called "light weight construction" in which many typically separate load-bearing parts were merged into a single reinforced firewall, thereby saving weight and improving performance. The first true test of the concept was in theBf 108Taifun sports aircraft, which would soon be setting all sorts of records. Based on this performance the company was invited to submit a design for theLuftwaffe's 1935 fighter contest, winning it with theBf 109, based on the same construction methods.
From this point on Messerschmitt became a favorite of theNazi party, as much for his designs as his political abilities and the factory location in southern Germany away from the "clumping" of aviation firms on the northern coast. BFW was reconstituted as "Messerschmitt AG" on 11 July 1938, with Willy Messerschmitt as chairman and managing director. The renaming of BFW resulted in the company'sRLM designation prefix changing from "Bf" to "Me" for all newer designs that were accepted by the RLM after the acquisition date. Existing types, such as the Bf 109 and 110, retained their earlier designation in official documents, although sometimes the newer designations were used as well, most often by subcontractors, such as Erla Maschinenwerk ofLeipzig.[citation needed] In practice, all BFW/Messerschmitt aircraft from the Bf 108 four-seat touring monoplane, to the Bf 163 light observation aircraft (which competed unsuccessfully for the government contract won by the rivalFieseler Fi 156 design) were prefixed "Bf", all later types with "Me".
During the war Messerschmitt became a major design supplier, theirBf 109 andBf 110 forming the vast majority of fighter strength for the first half of the war. Several other designs were also ordered, including the enormousMe 321Gigant transport glider, and its six-engined follow on, theMe 323. However, for the second half of the war, Messerschmitt turned almost entirely tojet-powered designs, producing the world's first operational jet fighter, theMe 262Schwalbe ("Swallow"). They also produced theDFS-designedMe 163Komet, the firstrocket-powered design to enter service. Messerschmitt relied heavily on slave labour to produce much of the parts needed for these aircraft during the second half of World War II; these parts were assembled in an enormous tunnel system inSankt Georgen an der Gusen,Austria. Slave labour was provided by inmates of the brutalKZ Gusen I and Gusen II camps, and by inmates from nearbyMauthausen concentration camp, all located near the St. Georgen quarries. 40,000 inmates from Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, France, Russia, Hungarian Jews and twenty other nationalities were murdered during the production of these aircraft atKZ Gusen. Messerschmitt officials maintained barracks at the concentration camp to oversee the work being done by the inmates. Messerschmitt, and its executiveWilly Messerschmitt also occupied the famedVilla Tugendhat inBrno,Czech Republic, designed byMies van der Rohe andLilly Reich in the 1920s; the Messerschmitt aircraft factory office and theGestapo occupied the property during the war.
Messerschmitt had its share of poor designs as well; theMe 210, designed as a follow-on to the 110, was an aerodynamic disaster that almost led to the forced dissolution of the company. The design problems were eventually addressed in theMe 410Hornisse, but only small numbers were built before all attention turned to the 262. Later in the war, in competition with theJunkers Ju 390 and the unbuilt, February 1943-initiatedHeinkel He 277, Messerschmitt also worked on a heavyAmerika Bomber design, theMe 264, which flew in prototype form — with three prototype airframes built, the first of which flew in December 1942 — but was too late to see combat.
For ten years afterWorld War II, the company was not allowed to produce aircraft. One alternative the company came up with was the three-wheeledmotorcycle/bubble car orKabinenroller (cabinscooter)KR175 /KR200, designed by an aircraft engineer,Fritz Fend.[citation needed]
The cars were actually made by Fend's own company in the Messerschmitt works at Regensburg, andWilly Messerschmitt had very little to do with the vehicles other than ruling that they carried his name. Production of the KR200 ceased in 1964.[citation needed]
The Messerschmitt factory also produced prefabricated houses, which were designed as "self-building-kits" mainly based on an alloy framework.[citation needed]
On 6 June 1968, Messerschmitt AG merged with the small civil engineering and civil aviation firmBölkow, becoming Messerschmitt-Bölkow. The following May, the firm acquiredHamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB). The company then changed its name toMesserschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB). In 1989 MBB was taken over byDASA. DASA later operated as "EADS Germany", which is nowAirbus.[3]
| Model | Name | First flight | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| M17 | January 1925 | sports aircraft | |
| M18 | 1926 | passenger transport | |
| M19 | 1927 | sports aircraft | |
| M20 | 1928 | passenger transport | |
| M21 | 1928 | prototype biplane trainer | |
| M22 | 1928 | prototype biplane medium bomber | |
| M23 | early 1928 | sports aircraft | |
| M24 | 1929 | passenger transport | |
| M25 | not built | sports aircraft | |
| M26 | 1930 | prototype light aircraft | |
| M27 | 1930 | sports aircraft | |
| M28 | January 1931 | prototype mail-plane | |
| M29 | 1932 | sports/racing aircraft | |
| M31 | 1932 | sports aircraft | |
| M33 | not built | ultra-light parasol-wing single-seat monoplane | |
| M35 | 1933 | sports aircraft developed from M23 | |
| M36 | 1934 | passenger transport | |
| Bf 108 | Taifun (Typhoon) | 1934 | trainer & transport |
| Bf 109 | September 1935 | fighter, bomber interceptor; later versions sometimes mistakenly marked as "Me 109" on subcontractor's dataplates | |
| Bf 110 | 12 May 1936 | twin-engine heavy fighter, night fighter | |
| Me 155 | not built | high-altitude fighter, developed from Bf 109; not built, project transferred toBlohm + Voss as theBv 155 | |
| Bf 161 | 1938 | reconnaissance aircraft; prototype | |
| Bf 162 | Jaguar | 1937 | schnellbomber (fast bomber) based on Bf 110 |
| Bf 163 | 19 February 1938 | STOL reconnaissance aircraft; prototype built by Weserflug AG, lost military contract toFieseler Fi 156Storch | |
| Me 163 | Komet (Comet) | early 1941 | rocket-powered interceptor |
| Bf 165 | 1937 | long-range bomber project | |
| Me 208 | improved and enlarged version of Bf 108 | ||
| Me 209 | 1 August 1938 | designed to break world air speed record; attempted fighter conversion failed | |
| Me 209-II | 1943 | fighter; update to Bf 109, never produced | |
| Me 210 | September 1939 | twin-engine heavy fighter; also used for reconnaissance | |
| Me 261 | Adolfine | 1941 | designed as long-range record-setter; three built and used for reconnaissance |
| Me 262 | Schwalbe (Swallow) | 18 July 1942 | twin-engine fighter & attack aircraft; first operational jet-powered fighter |
| Me 263 | never flown | rocket-powered interceptor; advanced development of Me 163 | |
| Me 264 | Amerikabomber (America Bomber) | 23 October 1942 | strategic bomber, developed underAmerika Bomber program in competition againstJu 390 and unbuiltHe 277 |
| Me 265 | not built | attack aircraft, proposed | |
| Me 309 | July 1942 | fighter; advanced but underperforming design meant to replace Bf 109 | |
| Me 310 | 1 built, pressurized Me 210 development, proposed | ||
| Me 321 | 7 March 1941 | large transport glider | |
| Me 323 | Gigant (Giant) | Fall 1941 | large transport aircraft; powered development of Me 321 |
| Me 328 | Fall 1943 | pulsejet-poweredselbstopfer or parasite fighter | |
| Me 329 | not built | heavy fighter-bomber; unpowered glider only | |
| Me 334 | tailless fighter, similar to Me 163 (development abandoned) | ||
| Me 362 | 3-turbojet passenger aircraft (development abandoned) | ||
| Me 409 | High-altitude fighter project; evolved into Bv 155 | ||
| Me 410 | Hornisse (Hornet) | 1943 | twin-engine heavy fighter and fast bomber; development of Me 210 |
| Me 509 | not built | fighter, based on Me 309, with engine located behind cockpit as inP-39 Airacobra | |
| Me 510 | twin-engine fighter-bomber (not built) | ||
| Me 609 | heavy fighter; combined two Me 309 fuselages into one airframe, as with Bf 109Z and Me 409 (development abandoned) | ||
| P.08-01 | not flown | 1941 flying wing strategic bomber project | |
| P.1079 | not flown | 1939 long-range pusher bomber design | |
| P.1092 | not flown | prototype | |
| P.1095 | not flown | prototype multi-role aircraft | |
| P.1099 | not flown | prototype multi-role aircraft, intended improvement of Me 262 | |
| P.1100 | not flown | tactical bomber design | |
| P.1101 | not flown | prototypeswing-wing jet interceptor; later inspiredBell X-5 | |
| P.1102 | not flown | swing wing bomber/heavy fighter | |
| P.1103 | not flown | rocket-powered interceptor | |
| P.1104 | not flown | rocket-powered interceptor | |
| P.1106 | not flown | intended improvement of P.1101 | |
| P.1107 | not flown | jet bomber design | |
| P.1109 | not flown | oblique wing fighter design | |
| P.1110 | not flown | high altitude interceptor prototype | |
| P.1111 | not flown | fighter/interceptor prototype | |
| P.1112 | not flown | prototypetailless jet fighter; later inspiredVought F7U Cutlass |
| This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Messerschmitt" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
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