Heliport
1st Aug 2003, 17:35
http://www.avianet.nl/images/bolkow.jpg
EADS Press Release Ludwig Bölkow, Germany’s greatest aerospace pioneer, has died.
Bölkow passed away last Friday evening in Munich at the age of 91. “Ludwig Bölkow shaped Germany’s postwar aerospace industry like no other and set the stage for the European integration of the sector”, said EADS CEOs Rainer Hertrich and Philippe Camus in praise of Bölkow’s life work.
Ludwig Bölkow served as CEO of the German aerospace company Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB) until 1977. The company, based in Ottobrunn near Munich, was regarded for decades as a peerless pioneer of German technology and earned the German aerospace industry an enviable reputation the world over. MBB introduced trailblazing innovations for helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and rockets. It also developed solar energy systems and did groundbreaking work on the Transrapid train. MBB is one of the predecessor companies of EADS, which was founded in July 2000.
“Ludwig Bölkow believed in a technological Europe. He knew that to be competitive this continent must assume a leading role in aerospace and that the European nations can only achieve this through concerted action,” said Hertrich and Camus. Bölkow was a pioneer of international cooperation in aerospace and defence technology. As early as 1957 he laid the cornerstone for the later wide-ranging and successful collaboration between his company and the French partner Nord Aviation, which later became Aerospatiale. Other ventures with British, Italian, American, Spanish, Dutch and Japanese companies followed. Euromissile, Panavia, Eurofighter, Eurocopter and Arianespace – these are just a few of the programme families spawned by the joint ventures conceived and initiated by Bölkow.
“First and foremost, though, Ludwig Bölkow is one of the fathers of Airbus,” Hertrich and Camus emphasized. As early as 1966 Bölkow founded the German Airbus Study Office shortly after the possibility of a Franco-German or even a European wide-body aircraft had been mooted in Le Bourget. The first employees moved into temporary offices at the German Museum in Munich. Two years later Deutsche Airbus GmbH was founded. “The unique success story of Airbus would have been inconceivable without Bölkow,” said Camus and Hertrich.
In the early 1970s Bölkow began to call publicly for a merger of the European aerospace industry. “Ludwig Bölkow combined in a unique way the qualities of a visionary, an engineer and entrepreneur in one person,” commented Hertrich and Camus. “The employees of EADS are proud to count him among the fathers of our company.”
Ludwig Bölkow is the last in a line of great pioneers who conferred their names on their products. The letters “Bo” in the name of the successful BO-105 helicopter, for example, stands for Bölkow, “Me” for Messerschmitt and “Ju” for Junkers. The model abbreviation of the BK-117 helicopter stands for Bölkow/Kawasaki. Bölkow was a global player long before the term came into vogue. His outstanding innovations include the hingeless rotor for helicopters, control and attitude systems for satellites and small propulsion units for space systems.
As an entrepreneur Bölkow introduced social benefits in the 1960s that were still revolutionary at the time, such as company pensions and flexible working hours. He attached great importance to the continuing education of his employees. His skill in managing, inspiring and helping people realise their ideas made him an esteemed mentor to several generations of engineers. “He set a model which we have a duty to aspire to today,” said Camus and Hertrich. “A sector like the aerospace industry has to provide creative minds with a suitable environment so that they can apply their skills productively.”
Ludwig Bölkow was born in Schwerin, Mecklenburg on 30 June 1912. After doing practical training in aircraft construction at Heinkel Engineering he studied at Berlin-Charlottenburg Technical University from 1934 to 1938.
In 1939 he joined the project office of Messerschmitt AG in Augsburg, were he served initially as a clerk, later as a group leader for high-speed aerodynamics, especially for the Me 262 jet aircraft and its successors. In January 1943 he was appointed head of the Me 109 development office in Vienna Neustadt. In January 1944 Bölkow returned to the Messerschmitt project office, which had meanwhile moved to Oberammergau. There he set up a program for the development of the Me P 1101 sweptback-wing jet fighter.
Unlike many other top German engineers, he did not emigrate to the USA after the War but instead turned his hand to developing modern building construction and process automation techniques. In 1948 he founded his own engineering bureau in Stuttgart. In 1954 he decided to return to aviation and defense technology and in 1956 renamed his company, which was based at Stuttgart Airport, Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG.
The first products were the Klemm Kl 107 leisure aircraft and the Cobra antitank missile. In the following years production facilities were acquired in Nabern, Schrobenhausen, Laupheim and Donauwörth.
At the end of 1958 Bölkow moved his development office from Stuttgart to Ottobrunn near Munich. In 1959 a joint venture with the Messerschmitt and Heinkel companies was set up in the form of a working party that went by the name of Entwicklungsring Süd (EWR).
Bölkow GmbH was founded in 1965. In 1968 it merged with Messerschmitt AG and in 1969 with Hamburger Flugzeugbau to form Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB). Under the direction of Ludwig Bölkow as CEO, MBB developed into a major systems company for aeronautics, space systems, defence technology, traffic systems and energy engineering.
Towards the end of 1977 Bölkow, then 65, left the MBB management. Since that time he has devoted himself to long-term studies into the development of solar and hydrogen technology, traffic systems and other environmentally friendly technologies, since 1983 through the Ludwig Bölkow Foundation. “Technosopher of the Isar” is a sobriquet that describes his broad range of interests. “It’s no coincidence that the training programme at Bölkow GmbH in the 1960s included, in addition to the usual specialist seminars, subjects such as “Technology as a philosophical challenge” and “Physics – philosophy – politics – religion: a fragmentation or blurring of boundaries?”
Dr. Ludwig Bölkow was the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Bavarian Maximilian Medal for Science and Art, the Honorary Ring of the Association of German Engineers, the Ludwig Prandtl Ring of the German Aerospace Society, the Werner von Siemens Ring and the Golden Medallion of the City of Munich.
EADS Press Release Ludwig Bölkow, Germany’s greatest aerospace pioneer, has died.
Bölkow passed away last Friday evening in Munich at the age of 91. “Ludwig Bölkow shaped Germany’s postwar aerospace industry like no other and set the stage for the European integration of the sector”, said EADS CEOs Rainer Hertrich and Philippe Camus in praise of Bölkow’s life work.
Ludwig Bölkow served as CEO of the German aerospace company Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB) until 1977. The company, based in Ottobrunn near Munich, was regarded for decades as a peerless pioneer of German technology and earned the German aerospace industry an enviable reputation the world over. MBB introduced trailblazing innovations for helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and rockets. It also developed solar energy systems and did groundbreaking work on the Transrapid train. MBB is one of the predecessor companies of EADS, which was founded in July 2000.
“Ludwig Bölkow believed in a technological Europe. He knew that to be competitive this continent must assume a leading role in aerospace and that the European nations can only achieve this through concerted action,” said Hertrich and Camus. Bölkow was a pioneer of international cooperation in aerospace and defence technology. As early as 1957 he laid the cornerstone for the later wide-ranging and successful collaboration between his company and the French partner Nord Aviation, which later became Aerospatiale. Other ventures with British, Italian, American, Spanish, Dutch and Japanese companies followed. Euromissile, Panavia, Eurofighter, Eurocopter and Arianespace – these are just a few of the programme families spawned by the joint ventures conceived and initiated by Bölkow.
“First and foremost, though, Ludwig Bölkow is one of the fathers of Airbus,” Hertrich and Camus emphasized. As early as 1966 Bölkow founded the German Airbus Study Office shortly after the possibility of a Franco-German or even a European wide-body aircraft had been mooted in Le Bourget. The first employees moved into temporary offices at the German Museum in Munich. Two years later Deutsche Airbus GmbH was founded. “The unique success story of Airbus would have been inconceivable without Bölkow,” said Camus and Hertrich.
In the early 1970s Bölkow began to call publicly for a merger of the European aerospace industry. “Ludwig Bölkow combined in a unique way the qualities of a visionary, an engineer and entrepreneur in one person,” commented Hertrich and Camus. “The employees of EADS are proud to count him among the fathers of our company.”
Ludwig Bölkow is the last in a line of great pioneers who conferred their names on their products. The letters “Bo” in the name of the successful BO-105 helicopter, for example, stands for Bölkow, “Me” for Messerschmitt and “Ju” for Junkers. The model abbreviation of the BK-117 helicopter stands for Bölkow/Kawasaki. Bölkow was a global player long before the term came into vogue. His outstanding innovations include the hingeless rotor for helicopters, control and attitude systems for satellites and small propulsion units for space systems.
As an entrepreneur Bölkow introduced social benefits in the 1960s that were still revolutionary at the time, such as company pensions and flexible working hours. He attached great importance to the continuing education of his employees. His skill in managing, inspiring and helping people realise their ideas made him an esteemed mentor to several generations of engineers. “He set a model which we have a duty to aspire to today,” said Camus and Hertrich. “A sector like the aerospace industry has to provide creative minds with a suitable environment so that they can apply their skills productively.”
Ludwig Bölkow was born in Schwerin, Mecklenburg on 30 June 1912. After doing practical training in aircraft construction at Heinkel Engineering he studied at Berlin-Charlottenburg Technical University from 1934 to 1938.
In 1939 he joined the project office of Messerschmitt AG in Augsburg, were he served initially as a clerk, later as a group leader for high-speed aerodynamics, especially for the Me 262 jet aircraft and its successors. In January 1943 he was appointed head of the Me 109 development office in Vienna Neustadt. In January 1944 Bölkow returned to the Messerschmitt project office, which had meanwhile moved to Oberammergau. There he set up a program for the development of the Me P 1101 sweptback-wing jet fighter.
Unlike many other top German engineers, he did not emigrate to the USA after the War but instead turned his hand to developing modern building construction and process automation techniques. In 1948 he founded his own engineering bureau in Stuttgart. In 1954 he decided to return to aviation and defense technology and in 1956 renamed his company, which was based at Stuttgart Airport, Bölkow-Entwicklungen KG.
The first products were the Klemm Kl 107 leisure aircraft and the Cobra antitank missile. In the following years production facilities were acquired in Nabern, Schrobenhausen, Laupheim and Donauwörth.
At the end of 1958 Bölkow moved his development office from Stuttgart to Ottobrunn near Munich. In 1959 a joint venture with the Messerschmitt and Heinkel companies was set up in the form of a working party that went by the name of Entwicklungsring Süd (EWR).
Bölkow GmbH was founded in 1965. In 1968 it merged with Messerschmitt AG and in 1969 with Hamburger Flugzeugbau to form Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB). Under the direction of Ludwig Bölkow as CEO, MBB developed into a major systems company for aeronautics, space systems, defence technology, traffic systems and energy engineering.
Towards the end of 1977 Bölkow, then 65, left the MBB management. Since that time he has devoted himself to long-term studies into the development of solar and hydrogen technology, traffic systems and other environmentally friendly technologies, since 1983 through the Ludwig Bölkow Foundation. “Technosopher of the Isar” is a sobriquet that describes his broad range of interests. “It’s no coincidence that the training programme at Bölkow GmbH in the 1960s included, in addition to the usual specialist seminars, subjects such as “Technology as a philosophical challenge” and “Physics – philosophy – politics – religion: a fragmentation or blurring of boundaries?”
Dr. Ludwig Bölkow was the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Bavarian Maximilian Medal for Science and Art, the Honorary Ring of the Association of German Engineers, the Ludwig Prandtl Ring of the German Aerospace Society, the Werner von Siemens Ring and the Golden Medallion of the City of Munich.