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Source Jet & Prop 6/2008
In March 1931, a new aviation company was opened at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport. It was called "Flugzeugbau Josef Funken" and resided in Hall 13 (south-east of today's terminal buildings, roughly between the cargo terminal and the Lufthansa shipyard; at that time there were a number of smaller halls and workshop barracks in which various companies were based).
The corporate purpose of the Funken operation was the exploitation of a "revolutionary invention in aircraft construction".
This highly publicized invention was none other than the "wing boring aircraft" by Ludger Volpert. Funken had apparently heard about Volpert's work in Fuhlsbüttel aviation circles and offered him to procure financiers who were willing to invest in such an "epoch-making invention" in exchange for a corresponding commission. The large sums that Funken actually raised in a few weeks, however, did not flow into the construction of experimental aircraft, but were lost in other channels: Funken rented representative office space on the fine Neuer Jungfernstieg and employed several employees there, he bought a large car, had uniformed guards patrol in front of the Fuhlsbüttler aircraft hangar (to protect Volpert's "giant discovery" from uninvited visitors) and also lived privately on a fairly large footing.
Things went well for that long. until a suspicious financier checked the activities and reported Funken for fraud. After Funken's arrest, it turned out that he was already wanted for other
offenses and also had an impressive criminal record. This meant the end of the company "Flugzeugbau Josef Funken".
Volpert was lucky that the whole hoax had been exposed before final agreements had been signed between him and Funken. Otherwise, there would have been a risk that its development would have been included in the bankruptcy proceedings of the Funken company and that the progress of development would have been blocked.

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