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 parent company and was known as Abteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss from 1937 until it ceased operation at the end of World War II. In the postwar period it was revived as an independent company under its original name and subsequently joined several consortia before being merged to form Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB). It participates in the present day Airbus and European aerospace programs.

History

In 1933 the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding company in Hamburg was suffering a financial crisis from lack of work. Its owners, brothers Rudolf and Walther Blohm, decided to diversify into aircraft manufacture, believing that there would soon be a market for all-metal, long-range flying boats, especially with the German state airline Deutsche Luft Hansa. They also felt that their experience with all-metal marine construction would prove an advantage. It was at that time commonly believed that transatlantic air transport would soon take over the role filled by the luxury liners of that time. It was also thought that those planes would be seaplanes and flying boats as they could use the infrastructure and capacity of the seaports already in place, while land facilities at that time were unsuited to such large aeroplanes.

Early years

In June 1933 the Blohm brothers appointed their brother-in-law and fellow B&V director Dipl-Ing Max Andreae and experienced aviator Robert Schröck to the board. Schröck recruited designer Reinhold Mewes away from Heinkel, and with four other designers, on 1 July they began work. The Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmbH officially came into being on 4 July.

The company offices at first occupied the top floor of the B&V administrative headquarters in the Steinwerder quarter of Hamburg, with manufacturing carried out in the under-utilised shipbuilding works.

During this period the ruling Nazi party was massively increasing the interwar German re-armament program which included the complete overhaul of the aircraft industry. In particular, the Nazis wanted the technical capacities to quickly build large numbers of warplanes for the new Luftwaffe. As a result, the company took on subcontract manufacture of Junkers Ju 52 subassemblies, thus gaining valuable experience in the manufacture of all-metal aircraft. The bulk of the company's output would eventually turn out to be contract manufacturing of this kind, including many thousands of aircraft each for Dornier, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Junkers, and Messerschmitt.

The most significant types to be produced were flying boats, mainly used by the Luftwaffe for maritime patrol and reconnaissance. Most numerous was the BV 138 Seedrache (initiated as the Ha 138), a twin-boom trimotor, while the BV 222 Wiking was much larger. Largest of all was the BV 238 prototype, the largest aircraft built by any of the Axis powers. Other notable types include the asymmetric BV 141 tactical reconnaissance aircraft; 20 were built, but the type did not enter full production as the Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu was preferred.

The intention at Finkenwerder was to manufacture B&V's own products there, but subcontract manufacture quickly ate up most of the space and much of the company's own production, such as the BV 138, was in turn subcontracted out to Weser Flugzeugbau. Remarkably, the Finkenwerder site would survive the Allied bombing of Hamburg during the war and would remain with the company.

During the war, Vogt's workload increased so much that Hermann Pohlmann, designer of the Junkers Ju 87, was recruited to be his deputy. Other notable projects of the later part of the war included a variety of highly original bomber and fighter designs, including a series of tailless swept-wing fighters which culminated in an order for three prototypes of the jet-powered P 215 night fighter, just weeks before the war ended. Another significant recruit was Hans Wocke, who headed up the engineering team.

As ever, the company's main work would turn out to be as subcontractor for various German – and increasingly European – aircraft projects, and to this end it would participate in a number of consortia. Its first contract was for fuselage manufacture and final assembly of the Nord Noratlas. Other significant work would be undertaken for the Luftwaffe's Lockheed F-104G Starfighter and as a partner in the Transall C-160 military transport.

In 1958 HFB proposed two civil transport projects. The HFB 209 was a twin-turboprop capable of carrying 48 passengers, while the HFB 314 was a short-haul twin-jet. But the anticipated funding from the German government was not made available and the projects were cancelled in the early 1960s.

BV 950 Gliding torpedo prototype, built in two variants:
L 10 Friedensengel. Torpedo with glider attachment.
L 11 Schneewittchen. Later and more advanced derivative.

Design projects

Vogt proved a highly innovative designer and many of his projects gained interest within the German aero community. Many studies had unusual configurations such as asymmetry, novel multi-engine layouts and crew locations, wings swept forwards or back (or both) and sometimes tailless. All these lines of study followed through into the jet age, some with piston+jet mixed-power engine combinations.

Significant internal projects of the World War II era included:

Transports:

P 200. Long-range passenger flying boat.
BV 250. Landplane variant of the BV 238.

Bombers:

BV 237. Single-seat dive bomber and ground attack development of the asymmetric Bv 141. Personally ordered by Hitler as a replacement for the ageing Ju 87 Stuka but later cancelled.
P 163. Fast bomber with twin engines coupled to a central contra-prop, and manned wingtip nacelles.
P 170. Fast bomber with three engines, one central and two on unmanned wingtip nacelles.
P 188. W-wing jet bomber.

Fighters:

P 202. Slewed wing variable-geometry jet fighter.
P 203. Multi-role attack aircraft, mixed piston & jet power.
P 208. Tailless swept piston-engined pusher fighter project.
P 211. Jet fighter for the Volksjäger Emergency Fighter Program competition.
P 212. Single engined jet fighter.
P 213. Pulsejet powered miniature fighter for the Miniaturjäger design competition of the Emergency Fighter Program.
P 215. Tailless swept-wing twinjet, developed from the P 208 and P 212 design studies. An order for three prototypes was received just weeks before the end of the war.