Aircraft Construction

Conacher1941 · Post by **Conacher1941** » 25 Mar 2004 20:38

Good evening, gentlemen.
I have long wondered how the Luftwaffe planes were built. The 109 for example, would Messerschmitt build the body in one factory, while Daimler built the engine in another and then shipped it to the Messerschmitt factory, or even to an assembly plant?
I suppose the question that I am really trying to ask is, who built what?
Did Heinkel, Dornier, Messerschmitt, and Junkers build airframes, or did they simply do the assembly of all the various parts shipped to them from other factories?

Any help will be much appreciated,
...Conacher

Xavier · Post by **Xavier** » 25 Mar 2004 22:41

as you correctly guessed, Messerschmitt, Junkers and Heinkel assemled Airplanes.

engines came form BMW, Daimler and I think only Junkers produced its own engines.

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

Conacher1941 · Post by **Conacher1941** » 25 Mar 2004 23:23

So, Messerschmitt builds everything but the engine, which it receives from Daimler. Messerschmitt then assembles the DB engine and the Messerschmitt body?

...Conacher

Xavier · Post by **Xavier** » 26 Mar 2004 00:37

yes, airframes were assembled and ready to receive the engines, sometimes bombing disrupted assembly as one of the factories got destroyed (no engines for ready to fly airframes or viceversa).

Also, in this way, engine upgrades were easier to install, as a matter of fact, most variations whitin a model were the result of engine and armament upgrades

Focke Wulff 190 started the war with bmw raidals, and by war's end had inline 6 cylinder engines (models designated TA-)

please check the mp44 thread for some commments on outsourcing, and how it helped german war production in the last stage of the war:
(about the middle of this page: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 1&start=45 )

Will try to search for a well know picture of some engine-less Bf109 frames, and post it here.

best regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

Xavier · Post by **Xavier** » 26 Mar 2004 00:42

geee. the frames have the engines already installed....(sorry, my mistake..)

(click on the link)

http://community.webshots.com/photo/174 ... vvDPNQoQxX

regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

Conacher1941 · Post by **Conacher1941** » 26 Mar 2004 01:58

Thanks alot Xavi, I have wondered for a while how the construction/production of airplanes worked.

Cheers,
...Coancher

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 27 Mar 2004 03:28

German Aero Engine companies

Argus Motorgesellschaft M.B.H
BMW A.G
Daimler Benz Aktiengellschaft
Hienkel-Hirth G.M.B.H
Junkers
Bücker Flugzeugbau A.G
Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz A.G

Andy H

ChrisMAg2 · Post by **ChrisMAg2** » 27 Mar 2004 05:21

Like in any other well developed industrial country the planes were produced in "assembley plants". As the name suggejests: they were assembled from/ with premanufatured parts. These could be complete components (i.e. wings, undercarrige, engines, electronics etc.) and/or materials like sheetmetall, rims etc collected from other branches of the factory and the "raw materials" from outside. Usuallythe factories producesmost of the plane by itself, only recieving parts the company doesn't produce i.e. the engine, the tires, the gauges, paints etc.
As an example Junkers (later in the war) recieved prefabicated parts i.e. the undercarrige from Opel.
With the war going on the major factories dislocated parts or complete assembely-lines and delegated part or variant production to other companies in order to fullfill their productions

Regards
Christian M. Aguilar

Conacher1941 · Post by **Conacher1941** » 28 Mar 2004 02:39

Does that mean that companies like Junkers and Heinkel would have build almost the entire plane, save the glass, or rubber or what have you?

...Conacher

Simon Gunson · Post by **Simon Gunson** » 30 Mar 2004 08:30

Dear Conacher1941

I understand certain aircraft types were sub-contracted to various aircraft factories in occupied countries to exploit existing workforce expertise.

The Junkers Ju-290 production line was in Czechoslovakia. The Heinkel He-177 or at least some of them were built somewhere in France.

Cantankerous · Post by **Cantankerous** » 06 Jul 2022 16:48

Simon Gunson wrote: ↑
30 Mar 2004 08:30
The Junkers Ju-290 production line was in Czechoslovakia. The Heinkel He-177 or at least some of them were built somewhere in France.

The Junkers Ju 290 prototypes were built at Dessau, while the production aircraft were assembled at a Junkers facility in assembly in Bernburg (to which components for the Junkers Ju 488 prototypes were to have been transported for final assembly, only to be destroyed by French Resistance fighters). There was one Ju 290 built in Czechoslovakia by Letov after World War II as the Letov L-290 passenger aircraft, which flew in 1946.

Link:
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2017/08/25/ju-290/

Denniss · Post by **Denniss** » 07 Jul 2022 01:25

No, the vast majority of Ju 290 was built in Dessau, it's possible some of them were built in Merseburg and Prague.
Bernburg was fully occupied with Ju 88/188 production

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