Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF)

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Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF)

Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke GmbH · Wiener Neustädter Flughafenbetriebs GmbH

Two Austrian fighter aces founded a small airfield company; within five years it had become the Reich’s largest Messerschmitt works, building one Bf 109 in every four.

1935Fundada
Extinto em 1945Status
4Aeronaves registradas
Photo: Cornu1907 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
PaísÁustriaFundada1935FundadoresJulius Arigi, Benno Fiala von FernbruggSedeWiener Neustadt, Lower AustriaStatusExtinto em 1945
A história

Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF): the company and the aircraft that made its name

Aces at the airfield

WNF grew from the ruins of an earlier aircraft town. Wiener Neustadt had built aeroplanes at Oeffag until 1918; by 1934 its old factory stood idle. In 1935 two First World War aces, Julius Arigi and Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg, founded the Wiener Neustädter Flughafenbetriebs GmbH, bought the Oeffag works and began building sports aircraft such as the Lampich designs and the Meindl Kadett, while maintaining Austrian army machines.

One Bf 109 in four

The Anschluss changed everything. On 13 March 1938 a Reich trustee took the company over, renamed it Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke and expanded it into five plants. From 1939 it built the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and by 1945 it had turned out 8,545 of them, a quarter of all Bf 109s built. At its peak 15,000 people worked there. It also built Friedrich von Doblhoff’s WNF 342, which in 1943 became the first helicopter in the world to fly with tip jets driving its rotor.

Bombs, tunnels and a tip-jet helicopter

Size made it a target. Austrian resistance members around the priest Heinrich Maier passed factory plans to Allied intelligence, and on 13 August 1943, 61 B-24s from North Africa struck WNF in the first Allied air raid on Austrian soil, killing 181 people. Twenty-nine raids followed; by April 1945 only 18 of the town’s 4,000 houses were undamaged. Production was scattered from Carinthia to Moravian railway tunnels, and the company did not survive the war.

Two Austrian fighter aces founded a small airfield company; within five years it had become the Reich’s largest Messerschmitt works, building one Bf 109 in every four.Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) · verified 2026-10-03
À primeira vista

Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) in numbers

A empresa

Resumidamente
Fundada em 1935

  • Founded by aces Julius Arigi and Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg
  • Taken over by a Reich trustee, 13 March 1938
  • Managed by Erich Meindl

Produção

Mais conhecido por
Bf 109 (licence)

  • 8,545 Bf 109s built, 1939–1945
  • WNF 342 tip-jet helicopter
  • Own light designs Wn 11, Wn 15, Wn 16

Hoje

Agora
Extinto desde 1945

  • A Bf 109 with WNF-built parts is displayed at the Aviaticum, Wiener Neustadt

Its old Oeffag site anchored Austrian aircraft building for three decades.

Os números

Bf 109 built
8,5451939–1945
Força de trabalho máxima
15,000
Air raids on Wiener Neustadt
291943–1945
Killed in first raid
1811943
A aeronave

Every notable Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) aircraft

Aeronave Papel Primeiro voo Construído Status Observação
Messerschmitt Bf 109 (licence) Lutador 8,545 Aposentado About a quarter of total Bf 109 output
Doblhoff WNF 342 Tip-jet research helicopter 1943 3-5 prototypes Aposentado First helicopter to fly with rotor tip jets; V4 taken to the USA in 1945
Meindl/van Nes Kadett A VIIb Sports aircraft Aposentado Built in the pre-Anschluss period
WNF Wn 16 Aeronave leve Aposentado One of three own designs listed
Lugares, pessoas, registros

Where Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) built, who led it, what it achieved

Fábricas

  • Werk I · Wienerstraße, Wiener Neustadt — Former Oeffag works; Bf 109 final assembly
  • Werk II · Pottendorferstraße, Wiener Neustadt — Components and sub-assembly in a former engine plant
  • Werke III–V · Fischamend, Ober-Grafendorf, Klagenfurt — Branch plants; Klagenfurt in a former tobacco factory

Pessoas

  • Julius Arigi · co-founder, works pilot — First World War ace
  • Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg · co-founder — First World War ace
  • Friedrich von Doblhoff · helicopter designer — WNF 342 tip-jet helicopter
  • Árpád Lampich · technical director — Hungarian designer of the early sports types

Recordes e pioneirismos

  • WNF 342: first helicopter to take off and land with tip jets driving the rotor, 1943
Linha do tempo

Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF), year by year

1935

Flughafenbetriebs GmbH founded by Arigi and Fiala; buys the Oeffag works

1938

Taken over by a Reich trustee and renamed WNF

1939

First Bf 109E leaves the line

1943

WNF 342 flies, the first tip-jet helicopter

1943

61 B-24s bomb WNF in the first Allied raid on Austria

1945

Last of 29 raids on Wiener Neustadt

1945

WNF 342 V4 shipped to the USA under Operation Lusty

A árvore genealógica

Before and after Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF)

Veio antesOeffagWNF bought and reopened the idle Oeffag works in 1935Read the Oeffag page
Perguntas e Respostas

Everything people ask about Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF)

How many Bf 109s did WNF build?
8,545 between 1939 and 1945, about a quarter of all Bf 109s.
Who founded WNF?
First World War aces Julius Arigi and Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg, in 1935, as an airfield operating company.
What was the WNF 342?
Friedrich von Doblhoff’s experimental helicopter, the first to fly with tip jets driving its rotor.
Why was Wiener Neustadt bombed so heavily?
WNF was the largest Messerschmitt plant in the Reich, and resistance members had passed its plans to the Allies.

Continue a excursão

Around Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF)

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Fontes e Leitura Complementar

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Verificado em 03/10/2026.