Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm

Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Industry Aerospace-And some railroad equipment for the MBTA Commuter Rail
Genre Aerospace
Fate merged
Predecessor Messerschmitt AG and Bölkow (1968)
Hamburger Flugzeugbau (1969)
Successor DASA (Deutsche Aerospace AG)
Founded 1968
Defunct 1989
Headquarters Ottobrunn, West Germany
Products Helicopters and airliner components

Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a German aerospace manufacturer formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter. The company was bought by DASA (Deutsche Aerospace AG) in 1989, now part of Airbus Group.

History

The fourth MBB Bo 105 prototype in the Deutsches Museum in Munich
A BK 117 B2 of the German Police, in Düsseldorf, October 2005

On 6 June 1968, Messerschmitt AG merged with the small civil engineering and civil aviation firm Bölkow, becoming Messerschmitt-Bölkow. The following May, the firm acquired Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB), the aviation division of Blohm + Voss. The company then changed its name to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB).[1]

Originally 51% of MBB was owned by the Blohm family, Willy Messerschmitt and Ludwig Bölkow. 22.07% was owned by the German State of Hamburg, 17.05% by the state of Bavaria, 7.16% by Thyssen AG, 7.16% by Siemens AG, 7.13% by Allianz Versicherungs-AG, 7.13% by Robert Bosch GmbH and 6.15% by Friedrich Krupp GmbH.[2]

In 1981, MBB acquired the Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW), which itself had been formed by merging Focke-Wulf, Focke-Achgelis and Weserflug. In the following year, MBB acquired the astronautics company Entwicklungsring Nord (ERNO) and became MBB-ERNO.

In 1989 MBB was taken over by "Deutsche Aerospace AG" (DASA), which was renamed "Daimler-Benz Aerospace" in 1995. With the 1998 merger of Daimler Benz and Chrysler Corporation, the aerospace division was renamed DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG on 7 November 1998. European defense consolidation led to DASA's being merged with Aerospatiale-Matra of France and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) in 2000. The former DaimlerChrysler Aerospace now operates as "EADS Germany".[3]

Subsidiaries

Aircraft

MBB Bo 108, later known as Eurocopter EC 135

Partnerships

Rockwell-MBB X-31, one of two X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Demonstrator aircraft (top)

Missiles

Partnerships

Space Hardware

Manned spacecraft

References

  1. ↑ Nick Komos (August 1989). Air Progress: 76. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Commerzbank AG: "Wer gehört zu wem", Hamburg 1985, 15. Auflage
  3. ↑ Answers.com (n.d.). . Retrieved 22 March 2007.
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