Bücker-Flugzeugbau GmbH was a German
aircraft manufacturer
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry.
...
founded in 1932. It was most notable for Its highly regarded sports planes which went on to be used as
trainers by the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
History
The company was founded by , who had served as an officer in the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and then spent some years in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
establishing the
Svenska Aero factory. With the sale of this business at the end of 1932, Bücker returned to his native Germany where he opened his new factory in
Johannisthal,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
in 1934, but moved to a new built bigger factory in
Rangsdorf
Rangsdorf is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg in Germany. It has an airfield p to 1940 a genuine commercial airport
P, or p, is the sixteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''pee'' (pronounced ), plural ''pees''.
History
The ...
from where on 20 July 1944 Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg took off ...
in 1935.
Bücker's three great successes were the
Bücker Bü 131 ''Jungmann'' (1934), the
Bü 133 ''Jungmeister'' (1936) and the
Bü 181 ''Bestmann'' (1939). As well as these, the company built designs from several other manufacturers under licence, including the
Focke-Wulf Fw 44
The Focke-Wulf Fw 44 ''Stieglitz'' ("Goldfinch") is a 1930s German two-seat biplane. An early design by Kurt Tank, it was produced by the Focke-Wulf company as a pilot training and sports flying aircraft. It was also eventually built under lice ...
, the
DFS 230
The DFS 230 was a German transport glider operated by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It was developed in 1933 by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") with Hans Jacobs as the head ...
, and components for the
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (" Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, ...
,
Junkers Ju 87
The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Con ...
, and
Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next year, ultimately damaging or sink ...
.
During the war, forced labour was used at the Bücker works. Up to 500 prisoners from the Soviet Union lived in a nearby prison camp under bad conditions; there were also forced labourers from France, Italy, and other countries.
["Es gab gute Menschen und Schweinehunde" - Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung, 13. Januar 2005]
buecker-museum.de
At the end of World War II, the company’s premises fell into the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
occupation zone, and were seized. The company was then broken up. The Soviet army used the premises for aviation maintenance until their withdrawal from Germany in the 1990s.
The Bü 181 continued to be built in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
after the war.
List of aircraft
*
Bücker Bü 131 ''Jungmann'' (Young Man) (1934) single-engine two-seat trainer, biplane
*
Bücker Bü 133 ''Jungmeister'' (Young Champion) (1935) single-engine one-seat advanced trainer/aerobatic, biplane
*
Bücker Bü 134 monoplane (prototype)
*
Bücker Bü 180 ''Student'' (1937) single-engine two-seat trainer, low-wing monoplane
*
Bücker Bü 181 ''Bestmann'' (Bestman) (1939) single-engine two-seat trainer/utility, low-wing monoplane
*
Bücker Bü 182 ''Kornett''
See also
*
List of aircraft manufacturers
This is a list of aircraft manufacturers sorted alphabetically by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)/common name. It contains the ICAO/common name, manufacturers name(s), country and other data, with the known years of operation in pa ...
*
List of RLM aircraft designations
This is a list of aircraft type numbers allocated by an institution under the direction of ''Heereswaffenamt'' (before May 1933) and the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) between 1933 and 1945 for German military and civilian aircraft and in parallel to the ...
*
Volksflugzeug
The ''Volksflugzeug'' (People's Aircraft) was a grand Nazi-era scheme for the mass-production of a small and simple airplane in the 1930s. It was one of the attempts of the Nazi regime to use consumer technologies as a propaganda tool.
Unlike th ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Rieger, Klaus-Jochen and Rieger, Christoph. ''Faszination Bücker Flugzeuge (Fascination Bücker Aircraft)'' (bilingual German/English). Germany: MeinFachverlag, 2014. .
* König, Erwin. ''Die Bücker-Flugzeuge (The Bücker Aircraft)'' (bilingual German/English). Martinsried, Germany: Nara Verlag, 1987. .
* König, Erwin. ''Die Bückers, Die Geschichte der ehemaligen Bücker-Flugzeugbau-GmbH und ihrer Flugzeuge'' (in German). (1979)
* Wietstruk, Siegfried. ''Bücker-Flugzeugbau, Die Geschichte eines Flugzeugwerkes'' (in German). D-82041 Oberhaching, Germany: Aviatik Verlag, 1999. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucker Flugzeugbau
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany
Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of Germany
Companies based in Brandenburg
Companies of Prussia
Unfree labor during World War II