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

Automobil- und Aviatik AG, Subsidiary Bork i. Mark

  The Bork branch of Automobil- und Aviatik AG has a differentiated history, having evolved from the “Hans Grade Flieger-Werke”.

Hans-Grade-Werke, Bork i. Mark

  After Hans Grade completed an engineering course at the Grevenbroich machine factory near Cologne at the age of 20, he began his studies at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin-Charlottenburg, the same university where Otto Lilienthal had previously studied. Equipped with the internship experience, Grade developed engine construction while still a student. The work progressed so well that he soon received three patents for his engine development. An engine-powered bicycle followed. After graduation, Grade returned to Koslin and accepted a managerial position in a small Koslin engine workshop, which he took over as manager with the support of the sponsor Hentschel in 1904. To increase sales opportunities, Hentschel and Grade decided to move to Magdeburg.
  On September 23, 1905, Hans Grade signed a shareholders’ agreement for Grade-Motorwerke GmbH, was appointed to the board of directors and became managing director. This GmbH manufactured in particular motorcycle engines for the well-known company Burckhardtia.
  In 1907, Grade had just completed his compulsory military service as a one-year volunteer and began designing the first aircraft engine. At the same time, he manufactures the first parts for an airplane in a workshop of his engine factory. The award of the Lanzpreis der Lufte (Lance Prize of the Skies) spurred Grade on to accelerate work on his aircraft; after all, the winner received 40,000 marks.
<...>

M.Dusing German & Austro-Hungarian Aero Engines of WWI. Vol.2 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 65)

Grade-Motoren-Werke GmbH, Magdeburg und Bork

  Hans Grade was born in Koslin on May 17, 1879. In 1903, Grade designed his first motorcycle. After completing his studies at the college in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Hans Grade founded a small engine factory in his father's town, which he later sold and moved to Magdeburg in 1904, where he opened a factory on a significantly larger scale, which has since supplied over 1000 units of the well-known Grade two-stroke engines. During his many years of experience in the engine business, Grade became convinced that the two-stroke engine, by virtue of its simplicity and lightness, but above all by virtue of its rational operation, was qualified to be used as an aircraft engine. At that time, Grade's two-stroke engines were initially used primarily in motorcycle and boat construction. In 1907, Hans Grade withdrew from the management of his company and devoted himself to the construction of his first triplane aircraft, with which he made his first flight on the Cracauer Anger in Magdeburg on October 28, 1908. This triplane was equipped with its own six-cylinder two-stroke engine, which produced 36 hp. In 1910, with aviation gradually becoming established in Germany, Grade set up an aircraft factory in Bork near Berlin. There is much to suggest that the engine parts, such as pistons, crankshafts, casings, etc., were manufactured in Magdeburg - the assembly of the engines and the test runs took place in Bork near Berlin. The aircraft company, in which about 80 aircraft were built, existed until the beginning of World War I. Grade was one of the first successful German powered aviators. His pilot's license dated February 1, 1910, issued by the Luftschiffer-Verband Berlin, bears the number 2, after August Euler, who was awarded the number 1.
  Before the war, Grade Motoren-Werke produced only its own designs. The Grade engines were multi-cylinder air-cooled engines in which the cylinders were arranged in a 90° V-shape.
  There was no significant series production. The Grade engines were used almost exclusively in his own flying machines. During the war, repair work was carried out on various types of aircraft engines at the Grade engine plant in Magdeburg.