M.Dusing German Aviation Industry in WWI. Volume 2 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 85)

Siemens-Schuckert-Werke, Abt. Flugzeugbau, Siemensstadt b. Berlin (SSW)

Foundation and Start of Aircraft Production:

  Before the war, Siemens-Schuckert-Werke (SSW) manufactured mainly electrical machines and electrical equipment at several locations in Germany. In the course of the war, it also engaged in aviation.
  Siemens-Schuckert-Werke had begun building a semi-rigid airship in 1907 when the commander of the Prussian Airship Battalion, Major Groll, presented it with a design he had worked out together with Chief Engineer Basenach and Captain Sperling. This military airship had a gas capacity of 1800 m3, was 40 m long, and had a 25 hp engine. After several successful voyages in the winter of 1908/9, the larger airship M I with a gas capacity of 5,000 m3 followed. SSW then started to build its own airship, designed by Dr. Kreil and Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Dietzius. With a gas capacity of 13,000 m3 and a length of 118 m, it was the largest semi-rigid airship and was powered by 4 x 125 hp Daimler engines. The first voyage took place on January 23, 1911, and it was later stationed in the newly built revolving hangar in Biesdorf, east of Berlin. A total of 72 trips were made, and while the airship proved to be quite fast, its dimensions proved too large for an impact airship. Airship construction was subsequently abandoned at SSW.
  Parallel to these airship tests, aircraft construction was also carried out from 1909 onwards, under the direction of Mr. Burkhardt, who with a further 2 occupants undertook tests with a biplane manufactured by SSW, but crashed with this aircraft in 1911, with the flying machine suffering a total loss.
  The Siemens-Schuckert-Werke in Nuremberg, a branch of the Siemens-Schuckert-Werke, Siemensstadt, started aircraft construction in January 1916 and incorporated it into the transformer plant.


Aircraft Development:

Siemensstadt:

  The practical implementation of aircraft construction began in 1909 in a small workshop on the Bornstedter Feld near Potsdam, where engineer Burkhardt designed a biplane.
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