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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 2671.PDF
AEROSPACE GERMANY Dornier's factory at Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance market opportunity and are of a size proportionate to Dornier's resources. Dornier left the Airbus programme because it was too big a risk unless an unacceptable degree of government control were accepted. The "stay small" policy is also the key to the success of the Do27 and Do28 programmes and for the present Do24/72 flying boat pro ject. Perhaps Alpha Jet is a pointer to Dornier's future. In common with other German aircraft companies, Dornier is diversifying, to the extent that about 50 per cent of the company's research is in non-aviation areas. But aerospace still accounts for the lion's share of business and is based on the family aviation tradition and a belief in an expanding future for aviation. Dornier had a good year in 1972. Overall business went up from DM406 million to DM461 million and gross profit improved from DM2 million in 1971 to DM10 -4 million— more, claims Dornier, than that of the other two main aircraft companies combined. A dividend of five per cent on the capital of DM20 million was declared. Investment was reduced from DM19-8 million to DM10 1 million, but depreciation increased from DM14 -4 million to DM15-8 million. The labour force has been slowly declining during the past years, from an average 7,726 in 1971 to just over 7,000 in mid-1973. Although Dornier is proud to be the only German com pany to have manufactured more than 1,000 aircraft of its own design since 1950, and of repaying a Government development loan (DM5 million for the Skyservant), its technological reputation and its largest turnover have been in high-performance aircraft and Vtol development. Dornier entered the space field as soon as Germany became interested in space in 1961, but feels it has yet to see really coherent policy in this area. Little has yet come of the pioneering work in Vtol and in drones, for which Dornier claims unrivalled experience in Germany. The Do31 cargo Vtol project lies fallow, as do MBB's VJ101 and VFW-Fokker's VAK 191B and VC400. So do Dornier's little Do32 and Dol32 helicopters and VFW-Fokker's H-3. So far, some DM3,600 million of expenditure over ten years has not found a true outlet. Dornier feels it holds a strong position in drone develop ment, having worked on Beech KDB-1 and CL-89 for the German Army, studied the corps reconnaissance system cancelled three years ago and developed the Kiebitz rotor platform and the Lippisch Aerodyne. Alpha Jet is viewed with considerable satisfaction. The programme is going very well and there is a spiritual togetherness between Dassault-Breguet and Dornier, both extremely private-sector companies. Considerable changes have occurred recently in the air craft work programme. Though delayed for some months by industrial conditions in Italy, the licence production of an extra batch of 22 Fiat G.91T trainers was completed during 1972. A grand total of 316 was made. So was the last of 50 additional F-104Gs, to which Dornier contributed, and the last of 87 Secbat Atlantics. But Skyservant quantity production got into, full swing and the CH-53G programme came on stream. In the space sector, Dornier points proudly to successful performance of the German Aeros A satellite and is working also on Helios and Geos, the other current satellite projects, as a member of the Star consortium. Dornier is active in the UK-Netherlands-German gas ultra-centrifuge project for enriching uranium fuel now taking shape at Almelo, in the Netherlands. Aircraft overhaul is nearly 12 per cent of Dornier's business. Types now handled include Do27, Do28, Sabre 6, G.91, Atlantic and UH-1D. Dornier completed the last of 352 UH-lDs in 1971 and now has post-design licence rights. MTU WITH FACTORIES in Munich working on aero engines and in Friedrichshafen on other engines, MTU employs approximately 12,000 people and achieved a turnover of DM860 million (about £151 million) in 1972. It reported a profit of DM11-5 million, about DM6-7 mil lion of it from the Munich aero-engine sector. This branch is owned jointly by MAN and Daimler-Benz. Although the turnover and sales are healthy and increas ing, MTU faces the classic German aircraft industry problem of trying to shift the balance of customers from 85 per cent military to something nearer 50:50. By far the largest military production programme is that for German Phantoms' GE J79-17, where there are orders for 450 engines. Other current production is T64 for the CH-53G, and components for JT8D and CF6. Well over half the development effort is going into the RB.199 engine for the MRCA, managed through Turbo-Union in association with Rolls-Royce (1971) and Fiat, and this should provide one-third of the production work-load in the late 1970s. Current work distribution is 63 per cent in production, 17 per cent in repairs and 20 per cent in development. Main path into a stronger civil participation seems to be a share in the development of P&W's JT10D ten-tonne engine, which would depend to some extent on availability of German Government finance, that precious commodity currently occupied largely with Airbus and VFW-Fokker 614. A 600 h.p. turboshaft is under study for co-operative development and the Allison 250-C20 may be manufac tured. MTU will also have a 22-5 per cent share of the Larzac 04 for the Alpha Jet.
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