In 1916, BMW started in Munich as a producer
of aero engines during WWI. The company logo today still reflects these
beginnings, showing a spinning propeller in blue and white. During the
war, many aircraft were equipped with these engines, among them the famous
Fokker fighter planes. In 1919, the world altitude record was broken by
an aeroplane powered by BMW.  Because
of the Versailles Treaty restrictions, motorcycle construction was taken
up in 1923. In 1928 BMW further diversified by acquiring a small car company
in Eisenach, thereby purchasing the rights to produce the famous Austin
7 in licence under the name „DIXI“. Car construction and improvement took
place in Munich, whereas production was still concentrated in Eisenach.
In 1930 another triumph for the aeroengine construction department: the
flying boat „Dornier Wal“, flown by Wolfgang von Gronau, crossed the North
Atlantic from East to West in 44 hours, powered by BMW. Under the names
„Hornet“ and „Xa“ BMW now produced its first radial engines, a line which
will come to fame during WWII. In 1932, BMW presented ist first self-developed
vehicle, the 3/20, and a year later the first six-cylinder engine in a
303 model. Perhaps the most famous light sports car, model 328, was being
sold from 1936 on.  In
1938, they won the „Mille Miglia“ race in the sub-2litre class. With the
outbreak of WWII the company concentrated on aeroengines once more, although
a BMW won the 1940 Mille Miglia competition in a streamlined body. The
highest development of BMW radial engines, the 801, was used to power the
famous Focke-Wulf Fw190 fighter, which, as flown by the „Abbeville Boys“
from 1941 onwards, was giving the allied airforces a hard time on the western
front. From 1943 on, BMW designed jet engines and produced the power plant
in series since 1944 until the end of WWII. After VE-Day, the factories
had been either destroyed or are being dissembled. BMW was banned from
constructing engines for three years. In the 1950ies, the company rose
again with the design of luxurious sports cars or tiny bubble cars. |
