VEF
The Riga factory that made the world’s smallest camera, two of every three Soviet telephones and, in the late 1930s, Latvia’s own fighters and trainers designed by Kārlis Irbītis.
VEF: the company and the aircraft that made its name
Telephones, radios and the Minox
VEF started in April 1919 as the main workshop of the Latvian post and telegraph department, with five mechanics. By the 1930s, renamed Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika in 1932, it made almost anything with a market: telephones, exchanges, radios that won Grand Prix awards in Brussels and Paris, light bulbs, irons and, from 1936, Walter Zapp’s Minox, then the world’s smallest camera. In 1930 it bought the Latvijas Bērzs plywood factory for radio cabinets, and from 1935 that plywood went into aircraft.
Irbītis and the aeroplanes
The aircraft were the work of Kārlis Irbītis, who designed a line from the I-11 sports racer to the I-16 fighter. The two-seat I-12 trainer, first flown on 26 June 1937, toured Britain that summer, came second in the Cinque Ports Wakefield Cup at Lympne, and was flown non-stop from London to Riga in nine hours, a record for the route. Twelve were built, and Rollasons was named British distributor.
Taken away to Moscow
Soviet occupation in June 1940 ended it. All VEF aircraft were ordered off Spilve airport and other designs were shipped to Moscow in March 1941; the single I-16 fighter prototype, left behind in Riga, was captured by the Germans and used as a trainer at Toruń until 1942. After the war VEF made two of every three Soviet telephones and employed 20,000 people by 1991, but it was broken up in the 1990s.
VEF in numbers
החברה
- בקיצור
- נוסד בשנת 1919
- State electrotechnical factory in Riga
- Maker of the Minox camera from 1936
- Aircraft from 1935, designed by Kārlis Irbītis
הֲפָקָה
- ידוע בעיקר בזכות
- I-12 trainer, I-16 fighter
- 12 I-12 trainers built
- Designs I-11 to I-19
הַיוֹם
- עַכשָׁיו
- Broken up in the 1990s
- Successor VEF un Ko has developed agricultural drones
המספרים
- Employees (peak)
- 20,0001991
- Share of Soviet telephones
- two in threeשנות ה-60
- Radio receivers exported per year
- 8,000late 1930s
Every notable VEF aircraft
| כְּלִי טַיִס | תַפְקִיד | טיסה ראשונה | בנוי | סטָטוּס | פֶּתֶק |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VEF I-11 | Sports and distance racer | בְּדִימוּס | |||
| VEF I-12 | מאמן דו-מושבי | 1937 | 12 | בְּדִימוּס | London–Riga non-stop record, nine hours; four to the Aizsargi |
| VEF I-14 | Low-wing sports racer | בְּדִימוּס | |||
| VEF I-15 | Military trainer (I-15a) and bomber (I-15b) | בְּדִימוּס | |||
| VEF I-16 | לוֹחֶם | 1940 | 1 (some sources say 3) | בְּדִימוּס | Captured by Germany; used as trainer at Toruń until 1942 |
| VEF I-17 | מאמן צבאי | בְּדִימוּס |
VEF aircraft in the world’s air forces
1 air forces in the Order of Battle fly or flew VEF types. ל-0 מהם עדיין יש אחד בשירות.
| חֵיל הַאֲוִיר | בשירות | טס בעבר |
|---|---|---|
| חיל האוויר הלטבי | VEF I-12, VEF I-16 (prototype) |
Where VEF built, who led it, what it achieved
מפעלים
- VEF works · Brīvības iela, Riga — 1899 assembly hall; buildings by Peter Behrens 1912–1914
- Spilve airport · Riga — Flight testing until 1940
אֲנָשִׁים
- Kārlis Irbītis · aircraft designer — 1904–1997; later in Canada, worked on the Canadair CL-84
- Walter Zapp · camera designer — Designed the Minox
שיאים וראשונות
- VEF I-12 flown non-stop London to Riga in nine hours, a record for the route, 1937
VEF, year by year
Post and telegraph workshop founded in Riga
Buys the Latvijas Bērzs plywood factory
Renamed VEF
Aircraft construction begins
Minox camera launched
VEF I-12 first flight
I-16 fighter prototype flies
Soviet occupation halts aircraft work
VEF aircraft designs shipped to Moscow
Employment peaks at 20,000
Factory privatised and reorganised
Everything people ask about VEF
What does VEF stand for?
Did VEF build aircraft?
Is the Minox camera from VEF?
Does VEF still exist?
כל עובדה, נבדקה
אומת בתאריך 2026-10-03.