Aircraft production in Austria
Austria is not very well known for its aircraft production. However, this is not fully justified.
The Phönix aicraft company started already at the First World War with the production of warplanes that fought on the German side. Shortly after the end of the war various new aircraft types were designed and constructed by Theodor Hopfner. Hopfner would also establish an aircraft company in Aspern that constructed quite a number of light planes. Hopfner’s aircraft works would after the take-over by Germany result in the Wiener-Neustadter Fluzeugwerke WNF. Although their own designs were not very successful, WNF was during the Second World War very active involved in licence-production for the Luftwaffe!
Except fore Hopfner, there were also a few smaller aircraft companies like Avis in Vienna and the even lesser known Bauer, Meindl and Ziegler.
At the end of the fifties, the Simmering-Graz-Pauker company, then known as a locomotive and wagon manufacturer, built a very attractive twin-engine 4-seat business plane as the M.222 Flamingo. It flew very well, but apparently this was not enough. Only four were built………
Nico Braas
