90 Years of Aircraft History in Augsburg
EADS is a young international company. But, through its predecessor companies, EADS Military Air Systems can look back on a history that stretches back to the beginnings of aviation in Europe.
The links reach back to the great German design engineers Hugo Junkers, Ernst Heinkel, Claude Dornier, Willy Messerschmitt and Ludwig Bölkow as well as the Spanish company founder José Ortiz de Echagüe.
These names stand for special pioneering achievements such as the first all-metal passenger aircraft Junkers F13 (1919), the flying boat Dornier Wal (1922), the CASA-1 light aircraft (1929), the twelve-engine giant flying boat Do X (1929), the successful Messerschmitt Bf (Me) 108 Taifun sports and touring aircraft (1934), the Bf (Me) 109 fighter aircraft (1935) and the Do 335 with piston drive in tandem arrangement (1943) or the record-breaking Me 209 (1939). The rocket plane Me 163 (1941) was the first aircraft to break the 1,000 km/h barrier, and the Me 262 (1942) was the first jet aircraft to go into large-scale series production. In Spain, the C-201 Alcotán and C-207 Azor were developed, as well as the HA200 Saeta trainer.
