Model of the month February 2019 Focke-Wulf
Focke-Wulf - Small Passenger Aircraft of the 20s
(Modell im Maßstab 1:72)
Henrich Focke and Georg Wulf have been working together on various projects in Bremen since the end of World War II. After the readmission of a (limited) production of aircraft in Germany they founded the Focke-Wulff Flugzeugbau A.G. in January 1924.
The model shows an A 16 of the new LUFT HANSA after 1926
It was a plywood construction with plywood planking, the rear fuselage was fabric-covered. The aerodynamics of the wings were based on the good flight characteristics of the Indonesian pumpkin seed Zanonia, which was also used by Etrich on his „Taube“.
The regulatory authority DVL conducted the type examination and the first plane was operated by the Bremen Seaside Resort Service for flights to the island of Wangerooge, beginning in the summer of 1924. Later the aircraft was equipped with more powerful engines than the Siemens radial engine Sh7 75 HP / 55.2 kW. This required reinforcements at the wings and the airframe. Altogether 21 planes were built between 1924 and 1926. These planes formed the basis of the later so famous company Focke-Wulf in Bremen, which, after re-foundation in the 50s, became VFW-Focker and then merged with MBB and EADS and finaly became AIRBUS.
In 1988 EADS-AIRBUS in Bremen built a replica, which can be admired in the Berlin Museum of Technology, next to the Arado Ar 96.
Postscript: It is interesting to note that at about the same time the Tupolev design office in the Sojwet Union was designing a very similar plane: the ANT-2 - but this one was made of aluminum sheet metal.
This picture: The Russian Tupulew ANT-2, very similar to the Focke-Wulf A 16, but made of aluminum sheet metal in 1924.
Technical data:
Length 8.50 m, wing span 13.90 m, wing area 27 m², height 2.30 m, engine 1 x
air-cooled 7-cylinder radial engine Siemens Sh 7 with 75 PS / 55,2 kW
v/max. 136 km/h, range 500 km, basic weight 570 kg, max. take-off weight 970 kg,
Crew 1 + max. 3 passengers.
