M.Dusing German Aviation Industry in WWI. Volume 1 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 84)

Halberstadter Flugzeugwerke GmbH, Halberstadt (Halb)

Foundation:

  In December 1911, the “Halberstadter Flugplatzgesellschaft” was founded. This paved the way for the construction of an airfield. The city also had the foresight to lay a cable line. This made it possible to build an aircraft factory on the edge of the new airfield site.
  The fact that Halberstadt became an “aviation town” was mainly due to the efforts of Max Heckel, a mining councilor.
  It can be assumed that Heckel also thought about creating an aircraft factory or at least an aircraft workshop. He was very well acquainted with the owners of the Oschersleben-based company Behrens & Kuhne, which was already building novel and transportable aircraft tents and airship hangars in 1911. When Hermann Behrens demonstrated his products in Berlin, he was asked to add light aircraft for the German army headquarters to the company’s production program in addition to the production of tents. These were primarily Bristol monoplanes, which were considered the best machines at the time and had been successfully flown by British pilots at Doberitz, the heart of German “military aviation”. Behrens therefore contacted Bristolwerke (The British and Colonial Aeroplane Comp., Ltd.), which had only been founded in 1910. He succeeded in concluding an agreement that Bristol aircraft could also be built in Germany.
  This company was then founded on April 9, 1912 under the name “Deutsche Bristol-Werke GmbH”. After the demonstration of the first Bristol aircraft, the Army Administration commissioned four aircraft, but required that the HFW simultaneously train pilots for the German Army. Thus, the Bristolwerke were also among the flying schools financed by funds from the Nationalflugspende.
  In September 1914, the company was renamed Halberstadter Flugzeugwerke GmbH. The founders were H. Behrens, G. Behrens, T. Stockhausen and Eduard Schnebel. The “Halberstadter Militar-Fliegerschule GmbH” and Plant II in Klusstrasse, where mainly boat building was carried out, were affiliated as subsidiaries.


Aircraft Development:

  The first new development to leave the Halberstadt aircraft works in 1913 was the so-called “Halberstadt-Taube” with a 70 hp engine. The Bristol monoplane (also known as the “Bristol pig”), which had been built up to that point, turned out to be difficult to steer. The Halberstadt Taube, on the other hand, was more cumbersome, but was smoother in the air. In addition, it was more stable (due to the so-called “Rover fuselage”).
<...>

Журнал Flight

Flight, June 5, 1914.

THE PRINCE HENRY CIRCUIT, 1914.

MACHINES IN PRINCE HENRY CIRCUIT.

   The Halberstadt Taube is characterized by a monocoque fuselage covered with fabric inside and out. The main planes are of the usual Taube form, but the girder structure under the wings has been replaced by ordinary cable bracing top and bottom. For purposes of observation and in order to facilitate photography openings have been provided in the wings on each side of the observer's seat, and these openings are fitted with glass covers. The chassis consists of two pairs of V tubes from which is slung the tubular axle by means of rubber shock absorbers.


Flight, September 4, 1914.

AIRCRAFT "MADE IN GERMANY"
WHICH MAY BE EMPLOYED AGAINST THE ALLIES.

18. The Halberstadt Taube
   is characterised by a monocoque fuselage, covered with fabric inside and out. The main planes are of the usual Taube form, but the girder structure under the wings has been replaced by ordinary cable bracing top and bottom. For purposes of observation, and in order to facilitate photography, openings have been provided in the wings on each side of the observer's seat, and these openings are fitted with glass covers. The chassis consists of two pairs of "V" tubes, from which the tubular axle is slung by means of rubber shock absorbers. The peculiar flexing tail plane found on most Tauben has been replaced in this machine by an ordinary flat non-lifting stabilizing plane, to the trailing edge of which is hinged the divided elevator. Mounted on top of the fuselage is a vertical fin of comparatively large area, to the trailing edge of which is hinged the rudder. Evidently the monococque type fuselage, and the absence of the usual girder structure below the wing, has reduced the head resistance enormously, for with a 100 h.p. Mercedes engine this machine is said to be capable of a speed of 92 miles per hour.