Darzhavna aeroplanna rabotilnitsa (''Държавна аеропланна работилница'' - State Aircraft Workshops), abbreviated DAR (''ДАР''), was the first Bulgarian aircraft manufacturer, established in 1924 at Bojourishte.

History

Initially involved in repairing German aircraft then in use in Bulgaria, DAR soon began producing copies of some of these ( DAR Uzunov-1,

DAR 2 The Albatros C.III was a German two-seat general-purpose biplane of World War I, built by Albatros Flugzeugwerke. The C.III was a refined version of the successful Albatros C.I and was eventually produced in greater numbers than any other C-type ...

), before moving on to licensed production of 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 workshops produced a number of original designs, some of these were produced ( DAR 1, DAR 3, DAR 4, DAR 6, , DAR 9, DAR 11), while others never proceeded past prototype stage ( DAR 5, DAR 7, DAR 10). Although aircraft manufacture was moved to the Darzhavna Samoletna Fabrika (''Държавна самолетна фабрика'' - State Airplane Factory, abbr. ''ДСФ'' - DSF) in

Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast f ...

in 1940, designers remained in DAR. was DAR's head designer towards the end of the organisation's lifespan. Amongst others, he was responsible for its final design, the DAR 11 fighter of 1941 that never left the drawing board. DAR was closed after 1945 and the personnel and facilities were moved to the DSF in Lovech. Although not direct legal successor, in 1995 a newly established private company called Aeroplani DAR based its name and heritage on DAR.

Products

References

Footnotes

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Bibliography

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External links

Romanian Military History Forum: Bulgarian Aircraft Production (1910-1945)
– includes pictures of a magazine article with production lists Aircraft manufacturers of Bulgaria Government-owned companies of Bulgaria Defunct manufacturing companies of Bulgaria Manufacturing companies established in 1924 1924 establishments in Bulgaria {{aero-company-stub