Focke-Wulf

Type first AG, later GmbH

Fate: Merged
Successor: Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke
Founded: October 4, 1923 - 1964
Headquarters: Bremen, Germany
Key people: Henrich Focke, Kurt Tank
Products: Commercial airliners, Military aircraft, helicopters

Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG (German pronunciation: [ˌfɔkəˈvʊlf]) was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

History

The company was founded in Bremen on 23 October 1923 as Bremer Flugzeugbau AG by Prof. Henrich Focke, Georg Wulf and Dr. rer. pol. Werner Naumann Almost immediately, they renamed the company Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG (later Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH).

In 1931, under government pressure, Focke-Wulf merged with Albatros-Flugzeugwerke of Berlin. Albatros-Flugzeugwerke engineer and test pilot Kurt Tank became head of the technical department and started work on the Fw 44 Stieglitz (Goldfinch).

In 1938, Hanna Reitsch demonstrated the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first fully controllable helicopter (as opposed to autogyro), in Berlin. On August 10, 1938, the Fw 200 was the first airplane to fly nonstop between Berlin and New York City, making the journey in 24 hours and 56 minutes. The return trip on August 13, 1938 took 19 hours and 47 minutes. These flights are commemorated with a plaque in the Bx¶ttcherstraxŸe street of Bremen.

The Fw 190 Wx¼rger (butcher-bird), designed from 1938 on, and produced in quantity from early 1941-1945, was a mainstay single-seat fighter for the Luftwaffe during World War II. The Fw 190D version, known by pilots as "Dora", was powered by a much heavier inverted V12 that was quite a bit longer, and resulted in 30 cm (12 in) added to the rear fuselage.

Repeated bombing of Bremen in World War II resulted in the mass-production plants being moved to eastern Germany and Poland, using many foreign and forced labourers, and from 1944 also prisoners of war. A 100-acre (0.40 km) Focke-Wulf plant at Marienburg produced approximately half of all Fw 190s and was bombed by the Eighth Air Force on October 9, 1944.

From 1947-1955, many Focke-Wulf workers, including Kurt Tank, worked at the Instituto Aerotécnico in Cx³rdoba, Argentina. In 1951, Focke-Wulf began to make gliders, and in 1955, motorised planes. In 1961, Focke-Wulf, Weserflug and Hamburger Flugzeugbau joined forces in the Entwicklungsring Nord (ERNO) to develop rockets.

In the 1960s, ITT Corporation, that had acquired a 25% stake in the company prior to the war, won $27 million in compensation for the damage that was inflicted on its share of the Focke-Wulf plant by WWII Allied bombing. Focke-Wulf formally merged with Weserflug in 1964, becoming Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW), which after several further mergers it is now part of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. (EADS).

List of Focke-Wulf aircraft

Focke-Wulf A 16
Focke-Wulf A 17/A21/A29
Focke-Wulf A19 canard
Focke-Wulf S 1
Focke-Wulf W 4
Focke-Wulf S 24 a
Focke-Wulf Fw A 21
Focke-Wulf C.20 license-built (autogyro)
Focke-Wulf C.30 Heuschrecke (Grasshopper), license-built (autogyro)
Focke-Wulf L 101 D Albatros
Focke-Wulf S 39
Focke-Wulf Fw 40
Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz (Goldfinch), trainer (biplane)
Focke-Wulf Fw 56 Stx¶sser (Falcon Hawk), trainer (parasol monoplane)
Focke-Wulf Fw 57, twin-engined heavy fighter + bomber (prototype)
Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe (Kite), transport + trainer
Focke-Wulf Fw 61, helicopter (prototype)
Focke-Wulf Fw 62, ship-borne reconnaissance (biplane seaplane)
Focke-Wulf Ta 152, interceptor/fighter (derived from Fw 190)
Focke-Wulf Ta 154 Moskito (Mosquito), night-fighter
Focke-Wulf Fw 159, fighter (prototype only)
Focke-Wulf Ta 183, jet-engined fighter (prototype)
Focke-Wulf Fw 186, autogiro reconnaissance aircraft (prototype)
Focke-Wulf Fw 187 Falke (Falcon), twin-engined heavy fighter ("Zerstx¶rer")
Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu (Owl), twin-engined army cooperation/tactical reconnaissance
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Wx¼rger (shrike/butcher-bird), fighter/interceptor
Focke-Wulf Fw 191, twin-engined bomber (prototype)
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, multi-engined passenger airplane + maritime patrol-bomber

Planned/unfinished designs

Focke-Wulf Fw 42
Focke-Wulf Fw 160 - A design for a four engined bomber with a twin boom, unconnected tail.
Focke-Wulf Fw 259 Frontjx¤ger (concept)
Focke-Wulf Ta 283
Focke-Wulf Fw 300 proposed long-range version of Fw 200
Focke-Wulf Ta 400
Focke-Wulf Fw P.0310.025-1006
Focke-Wulf Fw P.0310.025 - A 1944 design with a swept wing, a forward-swept V-tail, and two pusher propellers at the rear.
Focke-Wulf Fighter Project w/BMW803 - A design with a connected twin boom tail, slightly swept back wings, and two pusher propellers at the rear.
Focke-Wulf Fw Triebflx¼gel
Focke-Wulf VTOL Project
Focke-Wulf Fw 1000x1000x1000 series of bomber designs
Focke-Wulf Fw 'Super Lorin' Ramjet-rocket combo powered fighter

Focke-Wulf Pictures and Focke-Wulf for Sale.

Living Warbirds: The best warbirds DVD series.

Source: WikiPedia