COMPANY PRODUCTS COMPETENCES CAREER DOWNLOADS A company writes history The average age of German companies is around 18 years, according to estimations by the credit rating agency Creditreform. Only nearly 1.5 percent reach more than 100 years of age. PFW Aerospace GmbH is one of these special companies who, for over a century, have defied crises, wars, changes in their own markets and sometimes even errors caused by their own fault. Very rarely do such a great age and global leadership come together. Simply because a great number of years often doesn’t have much in particular to do with technological leadership. Breweries, wineries or guest houses are amongst the oldest companies. PFW is one of the few exceptions from the production industry here: founded in 1913, the company is still on the market today – and, with some of its products, is even the only qualified supplier in the world. The story starts with a man who could earn his living as a trend scout today. In 1913, the technically talented Alfred Eversbusch recognised that the time was right for an aircraft manufacturer. For him it was clear: the future belonged to aviation! As early as in the second year of existence, the first Otto-Doppelbecker biplane from the Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke factory managed to fly to German Southwest Africa, from where it undertook postal flights to Namibia. The First World War started and the Pfalz biplane was requisitioned and it later crashed. Meanwhile, production in Speyer increased. The course of the war demanded aircraft and, after Fokker and Albatros, Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke was the third largest manufacturer of fighter planes in Germany during the First World War. However after this peak, the first crash was to follow. In 1932, a foreclosure sale was initiated – the result was Flugwerke Saarpfalz. But as soon as in 1945 the next ‘end’ came. The Second World War came to an end and the French and American troops marched in. After that, it was all over for aircraft production on the site in Speyer for a long time. But history was still written: From 1954 on, Ernst Heinkel built his famous Kabinenroller bubble cars here. At the end of the 1950s, the aircraft business also started up again. Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugbau GmbH came into being – and with it, even their first own passenger aircraft: the HE 211. But managing growth isn’t all that easy. The German Air Force was established – and in Speyer a lack of resources meant they had to surrender the major projects: in 1964, there was a merger with Weser-Flugzeugbau and Fock Wulf in Bremen to form Vereinigten Flugtechnischen Werken (VFW) – later to become VFW-Fokker. In Speyer a long period of prosperity started, but in the mid 1970s it was already coming to an end. For once the cold war was helpful, and its effects reached all the way to Speyer: inspections were carried out on helicopters for the U.S. Air Force and outboard tanks were produced for the Alpha Jet and the Tornado. After separating from Fokker in 1980, trading continued as ‘VFW GmbH’ – the period with a modern production plant and helicopter service plant began. An eventful time in the 1990s followed, because the Speyer site now belonged to German Airbus – and was a part of the planned global corporation. Hulls, cables and pipes were produced – and, as an Airbus manufacturing plant, they were dependent on the ups and downs of the parent corporation. This, eventually, was in such a bad state that a buyer had to be found for the Speyer plant. And they were close to home: in 1996, employees simply took over their company themselves, by founding their own plc, the Mitarbeiter-AG. The remaining 523 employees gave their company its old name back: Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke. And straight away all indicators pointed towards growth again. In 2001, Safeguard International Fund got on board. The globalisation of the company ran its course, engineering competence was expanded and from 2005 a new name shone from the list of PFW customers: Boeing! In 2011, Airbus took over 74.9 percent of the company – PFW Aerospace GmbH was born. The history of PFW Aerospace GmbH is available to read in a lot more detail. Click here for a more comprehensive version of the company history: 100 years of PFW 1913 - 1918 It all started with Alfred Eversbusch. 1919 - 1932A successful era initially came to an end 1932 - 1945Founding of the Flugwerke Saarpfalz 1955 - 1964The Ernst-Heinkel era 1964 - 1983Merger of three companies into Vereinigten Flugtechnische Werke 1983 - 1991Takeover by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm 1991 - 1996German Airbus era from 1991 to 1996 1997 - 2001Original name from 1913: Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke. 2002 - today2002 until today About us PFW Aerospace GmbH has been one of the most important companies in German aviation for over 100 years. The company is seen as global leader in the field of tubing systems in aircraft. The entire range of services also includes structural components, such as belly fairings, pressure bulkheads, pressurised floors, support constructions, RAT frames, landing flaps, lighting covers, ram-air outlets, APU compartments and also fuel tanks. PFW Aerospace GmbH employs around 1,800 people at its locations in Speyer (Germany), Nuneaton (Great Britain) and Izmir (Turkey). Address PFW Aerospace GmbH Am Neuen Rheinhafen 10 D-67346 Speyer, Germany T + 49 (0) 6232 616 - 0 F + 49 (0) 6232 616 - 4204 info@pfw.aero Overview Company History Products Competences Career News Downloads PFW Aerospace GmbH ©2021 Legal Notice Privacy Policy GTM Cookie-Details Datenschutzerklärung Impressum