It is well known that Germany was subject to stringent restrictions regarding development and production of aircraft in the years following WW1 under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, but what, specifically, were these terms?
As far as I can see the only reference to aircraft production comes in Article 201 which states….
During the six months following the coming into force of the present Treaty, the manufacture and importation of aircraft, parts of aircraft, engines for aircraft, and parts of engines for aircraft, shall be forbidden in all German territory.
There does not appear to be anything in the Treaty text signed on 28th June 1919 to suggest that the situation was under review or that these restrictions would be extended. The Treaty is incredibly specific in most other respects, right down to how many sheep would be sent to Belgium, which astronomical instruments should be returned to China, etc.
So does anyone know when and how the restriction was imposed and how exactly it was phrased?
Thanks
By: Arabella-Cox - 22nd November 2010 at 17:56
Cheers, thanks for that. With the info. plus additional from Chumpy I have now managed to answer my real question, which was – were Germany banned from constructing racing or record breaking aircraft? And the answer is ‘no’, after the ‘Paris Agreements’ in 1925 the restrictions were amended with specific reference to such aircraft.
By: Bager1968 - 22nd November 2010 at 08:08
Most of the specific restrictions placed on German weapons/aircraft production came from orders and rulings of the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control, not the ToV… and were both made and put into effect in 1920 or 1921.
That is the reason for the “6 months” clause… to give the MIACC time to develop permanent rules.
The term Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control was used in a series of various peace treaties concluded after the First World War (1914–1918) between different countries. Each of these treaties was concluded between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers (consisting of the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan) on the one hand, and one of the Central Powers like Germany, Turkey or Bulgaria. See, e.g., Treaty of Versailles.
One of the terms of such treaties required conversion of all of the Central Powers’ military and armaments related production and related facilities into purely commercial use. The decision and the modus operandi to ensure this rested with a Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control. The Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control was also entrusted with a number of other responsibilities, including:
1. to fix the number of customs officials, local urban and rural police, forest guards and other like officials under the control of the Government of the central power concerned.
2. to receive from the central power concerned information relating to the location of the stocks and depots of munitions, the armament of the fortified works, fortresses and forts, the situation of the works or factories for the production of arms, munitions and war material and their operations.
See the Treaty of Versailles, SECTION IV INTER-ALLIED COMMISSIONS OF CONTROL. (articles 203 to 210)
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November 21, 2010 at 11:32 am