Biography   Facilities   Who is who?   Email

Hanns Klemm was born on April, 4th 1885 at Stuttgart in Germany. He visited the technical university of Stuttgart and was focused on statical calculations and building constructions. He joint the Kaiserliche Werft at Danzig after his studies in 1917, but already in April 1917 he went to Luftschiffbau Zeppelin AG at Friedrichshafen, where he joint the airplane departement of Dornier. Ernst Heinkel, one of Klemm's studying collegues, asked Klemm to join the Hansa- and Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke during the same year. Both were engaged in the developement of the Heinkel W29 sea fighter aircraft here.

In 1918 Klemm again moved to Daimler Motorenwerke Gesellschaft, where a new aviation departement was founded. Klemm became chief developer of this new departement, where he created the first Daimler fighter aircraft during 1918. After the end of WW I, Klemm became the manager of the Daimler automobile facility at Sindelfingen. At this time, Daimler had closed its aviation departement, but Klemm continued his developements within the automobile facilities inoffically.

Due to the Allied restrictions upon the German aviation industry, Klemm started with the developement of small light aircraft, which could be used as gliders, but which could also be used with small motor cycle engines. In 1919 the L15 became his first post war aircraft design, for which Ferdinand Porsche developed a small engine in correspondence with the Allied restrictions. But the L15 crashed during its first flight and Daimler Motorenwerke AG were no longer willing to invest money into Klemm's aviation activities by then.

But Klemm still continued his work in small steps. He concentrated on glider aircraft developements for which he still used the L15. Due to the successfull flights of Klemm's L15 at the Rhon, finally Daimler Motorenwerke AG was willing to support Klemm's aviation approaches again by 1922. Klemm continued his airplane developements at Daimler until 1926, when Daimler and Benz merged into Daimler-Benz AG.

In 1927 Klemm left Daimler-Benz. Shortly before, on December, 15th 1926 he founded his own company, the Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm at Boeblingen. As Klemm was focused on light aircraft designs for training and sport purposes, he also established a flying school as a part of his aircraft facilities.

In 1933 Klemm was forced by the new Nazi-government to transfer most of his facilities from Boeblingen to Halle. Here he established the Klemm Flugzeugwerke Halle GmbH. Only few parts of his company remained at Boeblingen. As Klemm was not interested in military aircraft designs, he also remained at Boeblingen, where he now was focused on the question of new methods of constructions for his light aircraft designs. He developed a new sandwich technology of glued wooden panels during 1936/37, which was first introduced on the Klemm KL105 in 1938. In December 1937 Klemm received a doctor's degree for these researches at the University of Stuttgart. The Klemm Technik GmbH was founded in 1940 as a patent holding company for Klemm's sandwich technology.

In March 1943 the Reichsluftfahrtministry ordered Klemm to prepare Klemm Flugzeugwerke for the serial production of Messerschmitt Me163 license production. Therefore Hanns Klemm resigned as the managing director of his company on May, 23rd 1943. Klemm Flugzeugwerke were taken over by the German government until the end of WWII.

After the end of WWII, the Klemm Flugzeugwerke at Boeblingen were destroyed and the remaining equipment was taken over by the Allied forces. The only remaining part of the Klemm companies was the Klemm Technik GmbH & Co. KG at Boeblingen, which was headed by Hannsjürgen Klemm, the son of Hans Klemm. But this company was no longer focused on the production of aircraft. Hanns Klemm diied on April, 30th 1961.

The initial foundations of Klemm's aircraft company were laid on December, 15th 1926 at Boeblingen with the foundation of Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm. This company was completely owned by Hanns Klemm, who took over a lot of his aviation developement office from Daimler-Benz AG.

In summer 1927 the regional government of Wurttemberg and Fritz Siebels became additional shareholders and the company was renamed into Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm GmbH. In 1933 Klemm was asked to transfer his facilities to Halle by the German government. The Klemm Flugzeugwerke Halle/Saale GmbH was founded in 1933 as a subsidary of Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm GmbH. A new facility was set up at Halle during 1934. Franz Walter, who was sales director at Klemm Boeblingen since 1932, became director of the new Klemm facilities at Halle. Friedrich Fecher became chief developer of the Halle facilities. About 100 employees moved from Boeblingen to Halle and Hanns Klemm also transfered the Klemm KL104, which was currently under developement in 1934 at Boeblingen to the Halle developement office, where the developement was completed until 1936 as Fh104. In April 1935 the first aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw44 Stieglitz, left the Halle facilities.

Klemm himself was not interested in the Halle facilities, which were mainly focused on military approaches. He reduced his influence on that company and finally sold his shares to Fritz Siebels. The Klemm Flugzeugwerke Halle/Saale GmbH was renamed into Flugzeugwerke Halle/Saale GmbH and later became Siebel Flugzeugwerke KG. On the other hand, Hanns Klemm bought the shares of his Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm GmbH from Siebels and the Wurttemberg government and became the sole owner of his company at Boeblingen. The company was renamed into Hanns Klemm Flugzeugbau.

Apart from the serial production of Klemm's light aircraft, the Boeblingen facilities were also forced to introduce a repair shop for Luftwaffe Arado Ar65 and Ar66 in 1934. Additional shops had to be opened for the Arado Ar96 during 1936. With the beginning of WW II most parts of Klemm's light aircraft production lines had to be stopped. Klemm Flugzeugwerke took over the serial production of the Gothaer Go242 glider fuselage and part production for the Arado Ar96 and Dornier Do217 since 1940. In 1942 Klemm Flugzeugwerke had about 1200 employees.

In March 1943 the Reichsluftfahrtministry asked Klemm Flugzeugwerke to prepare the serial production of Messerschmitt Me163 aircraft at Boeblingen. Therefore Hanns Klemm left the company and Hanns Klemm Flugzeugbau was headed by a government committee since May, 23rd 1943 until the end of WW II.

During 1944 about 1300 people were employed at Hanns Klemm Flugzeugbau, but shortly before WW II came to an end, the Boeblingen facilities were destroyed during several air raids. The remaining facilities were taken over by the Allies after WW II and were demontaged. Hanns Klemm Flugzeugbau remained under governmental supervisory after WW II. Just Klemm Technik GmbH, which was founded in 1940 as a patent holding company, still remained under the control of Hanns Klemm and later of his son Hannsjürgen Klemm.

In the late 50s Ludwig Bolkow settled an agreement with the supervisory board of Hanns Klemm Flugzeugbau, Klemm Technik GmbH and Bolkow GmbH for a license production of the Klemm KL107, which was adapted to the new postwar standards and which was later improved as the Bolkow Bo 207.

• Fecher, Friedrich ( - )

Friedrich Fecher was a chief engineer and designer at Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau at Boeblingen. In 1936 he went to the subsidary facilities at Halle and later joint the Flugzeugwerke Halle, where he developed most of Siebel's aircraft.




• Handasyde, G.H. ( - )

G.H. Handasyde founded the British Klemm Aeroplane Co. in 1931. He redesigned the Klemm KL32 for the British market and started a license production under the name Eagle at London. Later this company was renamed into British Aircraft Manufacturing Company




• Heinkel, Ernst ( - )

Ernst Heinkel was a studying collegue of Hanns Klemm at Stuttgart university. He ask Klemm to join Hansa und Brandenburgische Flugzeugwerke in 1917, where Heinkel and Klemm were engaged on the sea fighter aircraft W29.




• Kalkstein, Helmuth ( - )

Helmuth Kalkstein was the chief pilot of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau. He was responsible for most of the first flights of Klemm's famous light aircraft.




• Klemm, Hannsjürgen ( - )

Hannsjürgen Klemm is the son of Hanns Klemm. After WWII he became manager of the last remaining Klemm company, the Klemm Technik GmbH.




• Lusser, Robert ( - )

Robert Lusser was the chief developer of the Boeblingen facilities of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau.




• Porsche, Ferdinand ( - )

Ferdinand Porsche was engaged at Daimler Motorenwerke after WWI. He developed the F7502 engine for Klemm's L15




• Siebel, Fritz ( - )

Fritz Siebel was one of Klemm's early companions. In 1927 Fritz Siebel took shares of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau and Siebel was also engaged in the foundation of the Halle facilities during 1933/34. In 1935 Fritz Siebel took over the Klemm shares of the Flugzeugwerke Halle GmbH and renamed the company into Siebel Flugzeugwerke, while he himself sold his shares of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau back to Klemm.




• Walter, Franz ( - )

Franz Walter became Klemm's sales director at Boeblingen in 1932. In 1934 he became the general manager of the new Halle facilities of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau. Together with Walther Seitz he remained in this position also after Klemm left the Halle facilities.