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, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
History
The company was founded by , who had served as an officer in the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (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 ...
during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and then spent some years in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 1934, but moved to a new built bigger factory in
Rangsdorf 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 twin-seat biplane designed and produced by the Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf. It was the company's first major international success.
The Fw 44 had a relatively conventional ...
, 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 he ...
, 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, the ...
,
Junkers Ju 87
The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is 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 Condor Legion during the ...
, and
Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II Nazi Germany, German Command guidance, 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 y ...
.
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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
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
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
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
The Ministry of Aviation (, abbreviated RLM) was a government department during the p ...
*
Volksflugzeug
The ''Volksflugzeug'' (People's Aircraft) was a grand Nazi Germany, 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 t ...
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
Nazi forced labour