Das erste Großflugzeug made in Austria
The story of the lesser known Austrian Avis Flugzeug- Und Autowerke has remained quite unknown until now. The Austrian scientist and historian Robert Krickl has recently published a book devoted to this subject. The name Avis Flugzeug- und Autowerke indicated Avis was producing more than aircraft but car manufacturing by Avis will be described in a second book.
The book starts with the history of the Avis factory that started as the Technische Werkstätten G.m.b.H. in 1921. The company was also active as the representative agent in Vienna of the Hungarian ‘Ungarischen Luftverkehrs A.G.’, a small airline company flying with a Fokker F.III and a Fokker F.V. The final company under the name ‘Avis’ started in 1924 at Brun and proved to be short living…….
Avis was quite unique since it was not only an aircraft manufacturer, but also had its own aircraft fleet at Aspern airfield. In fact all aircraft built by Avis were also operated by Avis, not only for passenger transport, but also for pilot training. Under the inspiring leadership of Oskar Fekete Avis started with the construction of a small single-engine passenger plane, the BS-1, soon followed by the twin-engine BGV-1 and the BV-1. Three more two-seat types followed as the BS-II and BS-III but the BS-IV remained an unbuilt project. All Avis types were designed by Julius Von Berg. It was not surprising that with the construction of single types without series production the company always had financial problems and eventually the Avis aircraft works closed its gates in 1928.
In this book the author gives a detailed description of the history of the company, an overview of all Avis aircraft types built and detailed information on the most important people working at Avis illustrated by many rare photographs and documents.
The book is written in the German language without any English summary or photo caption and basic knowledge of German is an absolute requirement if you want to read this book.
The book is written in an easy to read style and I can only say it gives a very complete story of a very unknown piece of aviation history!
Conclusion: if you can read German and are interested in the Austrian aviation history this book is an absolute must.
Book details:
Title: Das erste Großflugzeug made in Austria. Die Flugzeuge der ‘Avis’ Flugzeug- und Autowerke. Österreichische Technikgeschichte Band 1
Author: Dr. Robert Krickl
Publisher: Verlag Brüder Hollinek, Purkersdorf, Austria
Type: hardcover, bound with 270 pages 19.5 x 26.7 cm
ISBN: 978-3-85119-329-9
Price: € 39,90 (+ P & P)
Reference: www.avis-werke.at
With special thanks to author and publisher for providing a free review copy.
Nico Braas
