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Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche helped design the formidable Tiger tank, one of the best armored vehicles of World War II. And he designed the all-conquering Volkswagen. The Stuttgart region is Europe's leading high-tech region and Germany's strongest commercial metropolitan area. When they hear the name Stuttgart, most people, in Germany and elsewhere, think of cars. This is because the State Capital of Baden-Württemberg is the home of the world's oldest car manufacturers: names such as Gottlieb Daimler, Carl Benz, Wilhelm Maybach and Ferdinand Porsche all have close links with Stuttgart.

Ferdinand Porsche, the German automotive engineer, was born on 03 September 1875. He designed the Volkswagen and the Porsche. Professor Porsche received little formal education, but his mechanical skills enabled him to find success. His father, Anton Porsche, was the owner of a plumbing workshop. Anton's son, Ferdinand, was expected to take over the family business, but he had other interests: at the age of 14 he was already performing experiments with electricity. However, his father was not very impressed with this. On the contrary, for a long time he tried to forbid his son from busying himself with "such nonsense". Therefore, Ferdinand set up his own secret workshop in his parent's house so that he could experiment unhindered.

His career path was characterised by groundbreaking designs. In 1897, he built an electric wheel-hub motor. In the same year, Ferdinand Porsche commenced work at k.u.k. Hofwagenfabrik Jacob Lohner & Co., Vienna, in the newly established "Electric Car Department". In 1900, the Lohner-Porsche - a non-transmission vehicle powered by the Porsche wheel-hub engine - was celebrated as an epoch-making innovation at the world trade fair in Paris. Ferdinand Porsche also victoriously tested his designs in races. Ever since, Porsche designed sports cars.

Austro-Daimler (a licensee of the Stuttgart-based Daimler firm) recruited Porsche in 1906 to be its chief designer. For most of the next decade, Austro-Daimler concentrated on war materiel including aircraft engines, huge trucks, and motorized cannons. In 1916, Porsche became the firm's managing director. The production of a successful aeroplane engine is a matter of years of experiment and practical experience, and since the first appearance of the Austra-Daimler engine in the earliest Etrich machines, the steady progress in design has been emphasized by their remarkable success in international competitions. The well-known designer, Herr Ferdinand Porsche, was the original designer of the Beardmore Austro-Daimler engines used in the Great War.

In 1922, Ferdinand Porsche was appointed as Designer in Chief at Daimler, and later became the company's Technical Director and Board member.Ferdinand Porsche set up his own independent design office, which was recorded in the Commercial Register on 25th April 1931 as "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionen und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeuge" (design engineering and consultation for engines and vehicles).

Hitler intended to provide a small affordable "people's car" (Volkswagen) that his people could fill the autobahn with. The man who knew how to design this car was Ferdinand Porsche, an automotive genius who had dreamed of building such a car ever since the end of World War I. Porsche combined the engine and the transmission and placed them in the rear. Volkswagen has its roots in Germany between the World Wars. Ferdinand Porsche had the desire to develop an affordable car for the average German. On 22nd June 1934, a contract was concluded between the Porsche design office and the Reichsverband der Automobilindustrie (the umbrella organisation of the German automotive industry, which later became the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA)).

Volkswagen Beetle's fame and durability originated from its heart - which was beating at the rear: the air-cooled horizontally oppposed engine. In contrast to the Austro-German legend, the engine was not invented by Ferdinand Porsche, but by Hans Ledwinka in Miada Boleslav in Czechslovakia, where it had been propelling Skoda and Tatra cars since 1923, before the Beetle had even been designed. The gifted designer Porsche himself sought equipment from Ledwinka in Bohemia and, later on, advice during the construction of the Beetle.

By 1935, the first prototype Volkswagens ("people's car") were being road tested. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche completed design of the vehicle in 1938. That autumn, the Nazi Party Labor Organization completed some of the construction on the assembly plant at Wolfsburg. In Hitler's full-employment economy, however, construction was delayed by the absence of workers. Benito Mussolini of Italy immediately provided 1,000 unemployed workers to Wolfsburg at Hitler's request, and more as needed.

Over 360,000 Germans paid in full or in installments for the vehicle in advance of its production. However, in August 1939, Hitler ordered Dr. Porsche to switch the Wolfsburg plant to production of military vehicles based on the Volkswagen. With Czechoslovakia and Austria under German domination and troops ready to move into Poland, the military would have to take priority. Production had started but was quickly switched over to the Kubelwagen and Schwimmwagen (a "jeep" and its amphibious counterpart) for the suddenly escalating World War II. In 1944, allied bombing destroyed over half of the plant. In the end, none of the purchasers received a Volkswagen - or refunds as war needs dominated the country.

The design of an armored fighting vehicle can only be a three-way trade-off between firepower, protection, and mobility. A tank that gives its crew good protection is necessarily heavily armored. This cuts down its tactical mobility, making it an easier target. On the other hand, a heavy and powerful armament adds weight to the vehicle, trading off mobility and weight available for armor protection. This leads to a vicious circle in armor design. Heavy weights and big volumes also make transportation over long distances very difficult.

In 1937 the entire heavy tank program, soon to be known as the Tiger Program, was given a high priority by the Army and Hitler. Two firms, Henschel and Porsche, competed for the design and development of the future heavy tank. Porsche and Henschel responded, having already been working on competing plans for a heavy tank as far back as 1939. They rushed completion of the plans in time for Hitler's birthday in April 1942. Ultimately, the automotive design office of the Army Ordnance Department awarded Henschel the contract for the chassis and Krupp the contract for the turret that together made the Tiger.

Ferdinand Porsche designed the electric-driven VK3001(P), VK-45OI(P), VK4502(P), and VK-4504(P) projects. In 1943, his company built 90 "Elefant" (formerly 'Ferdinand") 65-ton tank destroyers, which had an electric transmission from Siemens-Schuckert of Berlin. Two parallel 300-hp Maybach engines drove a single generator, which supplied current to two electric motors. These were located in a separate transmission compartment and were linked to their respective rear-drive sprockets through a geared drive. Electrically operated, these gearboxes had a three-speed ratio available, forward or reverse, and a top speed rated at 20 km/h. A hydropneumatic assisted electric steering system had a final drive reduction ratio of 16.51.

After December 1943, the Germans tested the prototype of a 180-ton monster tank, named "Maus". It was also equipped with a huge Siemens-Schuckert electric transmission. which included a tandem generator weighing 3,885 kg (8,547 lbs) and two electric motors weighing 3,770 kg (8,294 Ibs), which drove simple reduction gears that could adjust to either road or crosscountry operation and gave Porsche's mobile pillbox a maximum speed of 20 kmk. An airstream from the engine fan cooled generators, electric motors, reduction gears, and brakes.

Because there were few bridges capable of taking such a weight, the "Maus" had been designed to be submersible to an eight-meter depth. An attachable, single, big chimney served as air supply and emergency exit for the crew, as well as cooling the electric motors. When a "Maus" had to cross a deep river, a cable from a second tank on the bank provided power. Once across, the first "Maus" would power the second one through the same cable.

During the war, the construction office developed the "Ostrad" tractor, for example, and also worked on constructions such as wind generators or the people's tractor (Volkstraktor). In autumn 1944, the Porsche design office was relocated from Stuttgart to Gmünd/Carinthia. Ferdinand Porsche lived in Gmünd/Carinthia and Zell am See towards the end of the war.

Volkswagen production began in 1946, initially to provide vehicles for occupying forces. The company put its first upgraded vehicles on the market about 1951. VW's U.S. division was formed in 1955. The VW Jetta and Golf (formerly Rabbit) have been available since the 1980s.

Ferdinand Porsche was arrested by the French at the end of 1945, and was subsequently held for 22 months in various prisons. Upon his return, he examined the design of the racing car Cisitalia, which was constructed under the management of his son Ferry. After close observation, he came to the conclusion: "I would have built it exactly the same, right down to the last screw." In 1949, Professor Ferdinand Porsche, with his son and 100 workers, turned out one car a day from his rented factory in Stuttgart. They worked slowly and carefully. Most people think of the high- performance, high-dollar sports cars that now carry his name, but in reality, the Porsche brand had barely begun production of its first model - the 356 - when he died in 1951.