The Entwicklungsring Nord (Northern development circle) - abbreviated ERNO - was a 1961 joint venture of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

-based

Weserflug Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH, known as Weserflug, was an aircraft manufacturing company in Germany. History The company was founded in 1934 as a subsidiary of the ship and machine company Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG (DESCHIMAG). It began prod ...

and

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () 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. It is one of the ...

with

Hamburger Flugzeugbau ''Hamburger Flugzeugbau'' (HFB) was an aircraft manufacturer, located primarily in the Finkenwerder quarter of Hamburg, Germany. Established in 1933 as an offshoot of Blohm & Voss shipbuilders, it later became an operating division within its pare ...

to develop parts for rockets and get involved in space activities.

Jet-powered aircraft VFW 614

In 1961 work began on a small, jet-powered aircraft initially styled Erno-61-4. After Weserflug and Focke Wulf formally merged into

Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW) was a West German aerospace manufacturer. The company was formed by the 1964 merger of two German aerospace firms, Focke-Wulf and Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH (Weserflug). The formation of VFW was a natural outco ...

(VFW) in 1964, the machine was redesignated

VFW 614 The VFW-Fokker 614 (also VFW 614) was a twin-engined jetliner designed and constructed by West German aviation company VFW-Fokker. It is the first jet-powered passenger liner to be developed and produced in West Germany (the East German Baade 152 ...

. The draft design was amended to a

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

40-44 passenger jet with overwing engines, for easier operation from unprepared runways. German government

subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

enabled development to start in earnest in 1966. The first prototype started in August 1968, but then VFW and

Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

of the Netherlands formed a joint transnational holding company. The prototype flew on 14 July 1971 but crashed next February. Two more prototypes flew in 1972. German,

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, and French DGA certifications completed in 1974, 1975, & 1976 respectively. The collaborative production arrangements involved

Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a West German aerospace manufacturer. It was formed during the late 1960s as the result of efforts to consolidate the West German aerospace industry; aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt AG merged with the civi ...

(MBB) in Germany,

Fokker VFW VFW-Fokker GmbH was a joint venture of Fokker and Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW) started in 1969 that, from then on, controlled the ERNO initiative. The Entwicklungsring Nord (Northern development circle) — abbreviated ERNO — was a ...

in the Netherlands and

SABCA SABCA (Sociétés Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques) is a Belgian aerospace company. Its main sectors of activity are civil aviation, space and defence. SABCA was established during 1920. Presently, it is owned by the French aircraf ...

and

Avions Fairey Avions Fairey was the Belgian-based subsidiary of the British Fairey Aviation that built aircraft for the Belgian government. It subsequently separated from the UK parent and became SONACA. History In the late 1920s, the ''Aéronautique Mili ...

in Belgium. The first sale was to

Cimber Air Cimber may refer to: * Lucius Tillius Cimber ( fl. 44 BC), ancient Roman governor, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar * Cimber Sterling, Danish airline * Cimber (airline), Danish airline, established in 2012 * Adam Cimber (born 1990), American ...

, which started commercial flights in November 1975. The VFW-Fokker alliance affected the VFW 614 negatively, as Fokker needed to sell its competing F27 and F28. National subsidies were diverted to the

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

program, and the end came for the VFW 614. On 19 August 1977 the nineteenth (including prototypes) and last machine was completed. Few VFW 614 aircraft remained in use: The German Luftwaffe (Koln/Bonn Flugbereitschaft) continued flying VFW 614 until they finally ceased in 1998. The Luftwaffe machines went on to serve

EADS Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

(one aircraft for fly-by-wire development for the A380), and DLR in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

for development and research duties – the final flight of the last airworthy VFW 614 was on 7 December 2012.

Space activities

Helios, TD

ERNO participated in several satellite programs mostly being responsible for structure and thermal control, propulsion. A mechanically very challenging item i.e. the antenna of the German satellite HELIOS was manufactured by ERNO.

Spacelab

The

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

ESA in June 1974 named a consortium headed by ERNO-VFW Fokker (Zentralgesellschaft VFW-Fokker GmbH) to build pressurized modules called

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

, under contract to ERNO-VFW Fokker, built five {{convert, 10, ft, m, sing=on-long, unpressurized, U-shaped pallet segments. West Germany provided 53.3% of Spacelab's cost and fulfilled 52.6% of all Spacelab work contracts. ERNO VFW Fokker, in competition with MBB, submitted the winning design, and became the prime contractor for Spacelab. MBB in 1981 took over VFW Fokker. The ERNO plant in Bremen continued as the headquarters for Spacelab design, production management, component testing, and assembly.

COLUMBUS

The Bremen team of the new MBB-ERNO prepared the first COLUMBUS proposal as Prime Contractor based on the experiences gained on Spacelab. As next step MBB-ERNO became a section of Daimler-Benz called DASA (Daimler-Benz Aerospace). Following it became a part of

EADS Astrium Space Transportation Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...

, then

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

. The engineering team for manned space developments is responsible for Columbus operations and maintenance and involved in the development of the NASA Orion program. The Bremen launcher team was split off and integrated in Airbus Safran Launchers part of

ArianeGroup ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aeros ...

Products

* Forschungsflugkörper sounding rocket

External links

VFW-Fokker VFW 614 Regional jet
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany