At end of WWII, Nazi aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt used his design skills in other areas — making cars
WHEN Will Messerschmitt was forced to stop making Nazi planes at the end of World War II he turned to making quirky little three-wheeled cars.
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WHEN German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt was released from prison in 1950, after serving time for using slave labour in his factories during World War II under the Nazis, he needed to find a new project.
In the wake of the war there was a ban placed on Germans producing their own aircraft, part of a raft of bans to prevent the country remilitarising.
So Messerschmitt had to use his formidable design skills in other areas.
His company had been producing sewing machines, railroad cars and parts for prefabricated bridges and housing. But a chance meeting with Fend Flitzer, an engineer who had once worked at Messerschmitt but had been making three-wheeled enclosed cabin invalid carriages after the war, sent him on a new path. Flitzer pitched an idea to make small three-wheeled car, Messerschmitt gave it immediate approval. In 1953 Messerschmitt’s company sent a prototype Kabinenroller (cabin scooter) known as the KR-175 to the Geneva Motor Show.
After several refinements the car went into production and was so popular that 15,000 were made. It was soon followed by the even more popular KR-200, of which 40,000 were made. While the name Messerschmitt would always be associated with the flying Nazi war machine, these quirky little cars brought some measure of redemption.
Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt was born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany , on June 26, 1898 — 120 years ago today. His wine merchant father later moved his family to Bamberg, where Messerschmitt grew up.
As a boy, Messerschmitt was fascinated by gliders, zeppelins and other pioneering forms of aviation.
He was sent to the Bamberg Realschule, a secondary school, where his studies focused on sciences and technical subjects. Outside school he also gained an education from Friedrich Harth, who designed and built sailplanes, a type of glider.
When Harth was conscripted in World War I, Messerschmitt continued working on Harth’s experimental gliders. He was also drafted in 1917 and was stationed with Harth at an army flight training school, where they both worked on experimental gliders.
After the war Messerschmitt went to Munich Technical School, but having worked and designed a glider with Harth that broke a duration record, the two men had a difference of opinion and their partnership was dissolved.
In 1923 Messerschmitt founded his own company Flugzeugbau Messerschmitt, initially building gliders but later aircraft powered by internal combustion engines. His M-17 set a speed record and the M-18 was used by Lufthansa in its early days.
In 1927 his company was forced to merge with Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW), but the crash of two Lufthansa M-20 aircraft in 1928, threatened to sink the company. In 1931 BFW declared bankruptcy but was saved by Messerschmitt’s friendship with WWI ace and test pilot Theo Croneiss, who was linked to the Nazi party. The Nazis came to power in 1933 and were looking to rearm the country, flouting the Treaty of Versailles, which had limited remilitarisation after WWI.
Messerschmitt impressed the Luftwaffe with his lightweight performance aircraft, winning a design contest with his Bf-109, which went into production in 1937 and proved its superiority during the Spanish Civil War. Around 35,000 Bf-109s would be produced.
BFW was renamed Messerschmitt in 1938 when he took over as managing director. In 1939 a variant of the Bf-109 — the Me-209 — broke a world speed record with test pilot Fritz Wendel.
During the war Messerschmitt’s aircraft were a significant part of the Luftwaffe’s fighting strength. As the conflict raged on, Messerschmitt worked on jet aircraft designs, producing the Me-262, the first operational jet aircraft.
The war ended before his jets could become a serious threat and, in 1945, he was detained by Allied occupation forces and kept under house arrest. In 1948 he was brought before a “denazification” court and convicted of collusion with the Nazis and using slave labour in his plants. He spent two years in prison but, on his release, was allowed to return to his company which was now forbidden to produce aircraft.
By then the company had turned to producing sewing machines and other less violent and more constructive products. While he was not allowed to make aircraft, the micro-cars he produced seemed to have echoes of aircraft cockpits and he was allowed to act as a consultant to other countries developing their air fleets, designing aircraft for the Spanish government.
The ban on aircraft production was relaxed in the late ’50s and the company was allowed to produce foreign-designed aircraft under licence, including the Lockheed Starfighters used by the West German Luftwaffe.
Messerschmitt retired in 1970 and died in 1978.
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