Category 1914-1918 WWI

Nielsen & Winther

Nielsen & Winther A/S was founded in 1867 as a blacksmith and machine toolshop, specializing in lathes. They later expanded their product portfolio to include machines for the weapons industry as well as aeroplanes. The drawing of the factory from 1917 is very optimistic, but in reality the company was in a crisis, and was bought by Vølund A/S in 1920. Some of the buildings still exists to this day.

 

 

The company produced the Type Aa fighter aircraft, as well as a couple of prototypes. Six were sold to the Danish Army,  but three later crashed, and the remaining planes were then banned from flying.

Rumour has it that the pilots had long been worried about the safety of the construction, but the ban was apparently due to the poor reliability of the Thulin engine used.

 

Although this plane was the first indigenous aircraft in the Danish army, it has come to light that at least some of the drawings were from the Thulin factory in Sweden. In fact, some of the plans I have seen, were marked named the Thulin ‘L’  aircraft.

 

 

Another aircraft type was apparently sold to South America.

 

 

Any photos of the N&W planes, with the exception of the N&W Jager, are most welcome.

Viking Aeroplan & Motor Co.

Viking Aeroplan & Motor Co. was established during WWI by Erik Hildesheim. Its location was Toldbodgade 2, Copenhagen. It quoted the Royal Danish Army for several aircraft, based on a French design, but none were built. The company did not own any toolshop and the airplanes were to be built at “Københavns Værft og Flydedok” (Copenhagen Shipyard). They did however manage to design a 220HP, 6 cylinder engine that was built by “Maskinfabrikken Atlas”. It was sent to the Naval Shipyard that constructed the OV-series of flying boats for testing, but the company had folded before the engine tests were completed.

Director, Erik Hildesheim, later joined the German company “Rohrbach Metal Aeroplan A/S” – a German company that circumvented the Versailles treaty by building airplanes outside of Germany.

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