Bölkow, 1948 Germany, aeronautical manufacturer information

Name: Bölkow
Country: Germany
Founded: 1948

Bölkow history

Ludwig Bölkow founded the Bölkow engineering office in Stuttgart in 1948. From 1954, the BO 810 COBRA anti-tank missile was developed. The company became Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG at Stuttgart Airport in 1956. In 1958, the company moved to Ottobrunn.[1] Bölkow also wanted to set up its own production facility. In November 1956, he rented a hall near Nabern from the glider pioneer Wolf Hirth. Production of the Cobra and the Klemm Kl 107 glider began there. As there was soon not enough space, four hangars were purchased in March 1958 and the subsidiary Apparatebau Nabern GmbH was founded. This was renamed Apparatebau Bölkow GmbH in May 1960.[2] The final assembly of the Cobra and the development of special explosive kits was carried out in a new plant in Schrobenhausen from 1958 onwards.[3]

Ludwig Bölkow and Emil Weiland had been developing helicopters at Bölkow Entwicklungen KG since 1955 (aircraft construction had initially been banned by the Allies after the Second World War). The company had to make up for a large development backlog and was faced with strong competition; it consistently pursued the principle of developing one step ahead in order to catch up with the competition.

The aim was to find a gap in the market where they could compete with established helicopter models. What did not yet exist was a lightweight helicopter, designed for safety, easy to maintain, easy to fly, particularly suitable for rescue missions and inexpensive to maintain. The safety concept provided for twin engines and a redundant design of all important systems as well as a high-altitude tail rotor. This resulted in the Bölkow Bo 105, the prototype of which had its maiden flight on February 16, 1967. The program was on the verge of being discontinued several times, as the safety package was price-driving and difficult to implement against the cost pressure of the market; only an order for the VBH/PAH 1 by the Federal Ministry of Defence brought the economic breakthrough.

The Bo 105 was the first helicopter in the world to have a hingeless main rotor (Bölkow system) with a rigid rotor head, made possible by the use of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GRP) for the rotor blades. The rotor consists of considerably fewer components than a conventional rotor and has exceptionally good flight characteristics. Aerospatiale in France took out a license and used the Bölkow rotor principle in the Gazelle helicopter. Today's helicopters from the world market leader Eurocopter, into which Bölkow helicopter construction was later merged, are also characterized by the technology developed by Bölkow in the 1960s.

The 60% of the capital required for development came as a loan from the German government and was to be repaid if the helicopter was commercially successful. At this time, Bölkow was already working in a risk-sharing development partnership with suppliers. ZF in Friedrichshafen developed the main gearbox and also provided the gearboxes for the prototypes free of charge, as did other suppliers with their systems.

Bölkow developed and tested the first fiberglass skis around 1964 and was also active in space travel in the field of drives. In addition to the Derschmidt rotor for the Bo 46, a test system of the Heidelberg rotor with a diameter of 31 m was also developed.

Bölkow GmbH was also innovative in the field of personnel management. In 1967, it was the first company to introduce the “Ottobrunn model”. Today, millions of people work with this working time model, which is currently known as flexitime. At Bölkow, however, it was created more under the constraints of traffic conditions with a single narrow access road to the plant in Ottobrunn. There was also a company kindergarten right outside the factory gates, where working mothers could drop off their children in the morning, look after them at lunchtime and take them home again in the evening. From 1965, payroll accounting was carried out cashless via punch cards in cooperation with the savings bank in Ottobrunn.

Bölkow aircrafts

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