AGO Flugzeugwerke
Encyclopedia
AGO Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company from 1941 until 1945. The initials AGO had a variety of meanings during the company's lifetime, but in the its final version stood for Apparatebau GmbH Oschersleben. At its peak, the company employed around 4,500 people.

Foundation

AGO was founded in 1911 in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 as
Flugmaschinenwerke Gustav Otto by Gustav Otto
Gustav Otto
Gustav Otto was a German aircraft and aircraft-engine designer and manufacturer.Otto was born in Cologne to Nikolaus August Otto, the founder of N. A. Otto & Cie. and inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine...

 and a Dr Alberti. Gustav, the son of Dr Nikolaus Otto – inventor of the four-stroke engine, was a pioneer aviator (pilot's licence No. 34) and engine-builder. As was usual in those days, a flying school was attached to the business – one of its later students was Ernst Udet
Ernst Udet
Colonel General Ernst Udet was the second-highest scoring German flying ace of World War I. He was one of the youngest aces and was the highest scoring German ace to survive the war . His 62 victories were second only to Manfred von Richthofen, his commander in the Flying Circus...

.

The company's first successful aircraft under head designer, Gabriel Letsch, was an observation biplane with a pusher propeller that soon became the standard equipment of the Bayerischen Fliegertruppe. The machine was powered by a 75 kW (100 hp) engine of the firm's own design, branded Aviatiker Gustav Otto.

In 1912, a separate division was set up in Johannisthal under the name Ago Flugzeugwerke, with Elisabeth Woerner and Hermann Fremery as directors. After the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, AGO built a series of military reconnaissance aircraft, beginning with the AGO C.I
AGO C.I
- See also :...

 – a pusher-powered biplane designed by A. Haefeli. The most successful of AGO's wartime aircraft was the C.IV
AGO C.IV
|-References:* Gerdessen, F. "Estonian Air Power 1918 - 1945". Air Enthusiast No 18, April - July 1982. Pages 61–76. ISSN 0143-5450.* -See also:...

 of 1916, of which 70 examples were built, but which proved unpopular with its pilots.

In 1916, Gustav Otto opened a new plant in Munich under the name Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, and another in Oschersleben
Oschersleben
Oschersleben is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2005 about 18,000.-Geography:...

 (with Josef Schnittisser) again named AGO, this time for Aktiengesellschaft Gustav Otto. The Oschersleben plant was used to manufacture components for other manufacturers' aircraft until the end of the war.

Between the qars

After the Armistice, Otto tried automobile manufacturing, but in 1919 had to dismiss the employees of the Berlin company and divest himself of the Oschersleben factory. He himself withdrew to Lake Starnberg
Lake Starnberg
Lake Starnberg , 25 kilometers southwest of Munich in southern Bavaria, is Germany's fifth largest freshwater lake and, due to its large average depth, the second richest in water...

 where he died in 1926. The company continued, and in the same year developed 20 new hectares of factory space near the Sudenburger Maschinenfabrik und Eisengießerei AG plant at Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

. By 1928 this enterprise was also forced to close. On 30 July 1930, AGO's remaining assets were sold at auction by order of the court.

1933 – 1945

The Nazi government resurrected AGO by refurbishing the Oschersleben plant for aircraft production once more. The first order was for 36 Arado Ar 65
Arado Ar 65
-See also:-References:* Green, William, and Gordon Swanborough, The Complete Book of Fighters...

 fighters, 197 Arado Ar 66
Arado Ar 66
-See also:-References:* Smith, J.R and Kay, Antony L. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam, 1972. ISBN 0-85177-836-4.-External links:*...

 trainers, and 71 Heinkel He 51
Heinkel He 51
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Donald, David, ed. Warplanes of the Luftwaffe. London: Aerospace, 1994. ISBN 1-874023-56-5.* Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. "The Cadre Creator...Heinkel's Last Fighting Biplane". Air Enthusiast No. 36, May-August 1988. pp. 11–24. ISSN 0143-5450.*...

 fighters. The first of these to fly was an Ar 65s, on 1 May 1935. This was followed by an order for 140 Henschel Hs 123
Henschel Hs 123
The Henschel Hs 123 was a single-seat biplane dive bomber and close-support attack aircraft flown by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War and the early to mid-point of World War II...

 dive-bombers delivered at the end of 1937, AGO's introduction to all-metal construction. Next came orders for 241 Gotha Go 145
Gotha Go 145
-See also:-Bibliography:* Bishop, C. Luftwaffe Squadrons, 1939–1945. Amber Books, 2006.* Donald, D. Warplanes of the Luftwaffe: Combat aircraft of Hitler’s Luftwaffe, 1933 -1945. Aerospace Publishing, 2001....

 trainers and 187 Arado Ar 96
Arado Ar 96
-See also:-Bibliography:* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970 . ISBN 0-356-02382-6....

, and then 150 Henschel Hs 126
Henschel Hs 126
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970 . ISBN 0-356-02382-6....

 reconnaissance aircraft. This latter order was increased to 390 units in Summer 1938. Between March 1937 and March 1938, AGO built 121 Focke-Wulf Fw 44
Focke-Wulf Fw 44
-External links:* * * * * * *...

. In 1938, production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...

 began, and from 1941 onwards, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...

 became the mainstay of AGO's production.

In 1935, the design department was re-established, with the first new AGO aircraft becoming the AGO Ao 192
AGO Ao 192
|-See also:-References:*"Plane Facts". Air International, June 1977, Vol 12 No 6. Bromley, UK:Fine Scroll. p. 306.*Smith, J.R. and Kay, Antony J. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London:Putnam, 1990. ISBN 85177 836 4.** - In Polish...

 Kurier of 1937. A design for a heavy fighter project, the Ao 225 did not progress past the wind-tunnel stage and even the −225 designation was withdrawn by the RLM
RLM
RLM may refer to:* RLM, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, with significant presence in the Australian defence industry* Real Life Ministries, a non-denominational Evangelical Christian church in Idaho...

 and re-assigned to Focke-Achgelis
Focke-Achgelis
Focke-Achgelis & Co. G.m.b.H. was a German helicopter company founded in 1937 by Henrich Focke and Gerd Achgelis.-History:In 1936 Focke had been ousted from the Focke-Wulf company he had cofounded in 1924 by shareholder pressure...

.

From 1943 onwards, the AGO factory came under attack by Allied bombing raids, suffering increasingly heavy damage up to the end of the war. In 1947, the last remains of the factory were blown up by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

.
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