AEG Wagner Eule '1911-12' (14442945923)

The following info is taken from the museums website:-

"In autumn 1914, at the aeronautic division of a large electrical industry company, the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) at Henningsdorf, an engineer called Wagner designed and built a two-seat mid-wing monoplane with fuselage made of welded steel tubes and wooden, fabric covered wings. The first aircraft, which received the name Eule (Owl), was powered with a rotary engine. The aircraft featured a short (only 4,77 m in length) fuselage with a large (110 cm x 98 cm) cross-section and tapered wings.

The aircraft was used for the taxiing tests but was engulfed in a fire that broke out during a repair of the fuel tank. The plane was replaced with another prototype, also equipped with a rotary engine (several sources mention a 4-cylinder inline engine, which is rather unlikely). A few short test flights were carried out. Despite the fact that the ususual wing configuration was not introduced into serial production, the short, welded fuselage opened the way to all famous and successful biplanes of the B, C, and the J class designed and produced by the AEG during World War I.

The Eule prototype was displayed under the roof of the AEG assembly hall and later handed over to the Berlin Technical Museum. To preserve the Berlin collection from Allied air raids, the aircraft were taken to a safe haven in the occupied Polish territory in Czarnków near Poznań, where they were abandoned. After being found by the Poles in 1945, from 1946 till 1963 the wreck was stored by Technical Museum, and finally shipped to the newly established aviation museum in Krakow. In 2003 the Eule underwent preservation processes and was put on display."

It is now on display in a building full of unrestored relics at the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego. Krakow, Poland.