|
|
Chronology
|
1917 - The Rapp Motor Company is renamed BMW. This
early picture shows workers and aircraft engines.
1919 - Franz Zeno Diemer sets the first BMW world
record, reaching 9760 metres with an aircraft powered by the BMW IV
engine.
1924 - The first intercontinental flight to Persia
powered by BMW engines.
1926 - The Rohrbach Ro VII flying boat sets five
world records with a BMW VI aircraft engine.
1927 - This year saw the achievement of a total of 87
world records in aviation. 29 of them were set with BMW engines.
1930 - Wolfgang von Gronau crosses the North Atlantic
in 44 hours from east to west in a Dornier ’Whale’ open flying boat
powered by BMW engines. BMW Hornet and BMW Xa are the names of the first
radial engines from the BMW works in Munich.
1934 - The production of aircraft engines becomes an
independent business unit: BMW Flugmotorenbau GmbH. The BMW 132 radial
engine is the first in-house development based on a Pratt & Whitney
design.
1940 - Series production starts up of the 801
aircraft engine. Around 30,000 are built by 1945.
1943 - A BMW jet flies for the first time. The model
is 109-003. It goes into production the following year as one of the
world’s first jet engines.
1944 - BMW was one of the first companies to
mass-produce engines for the jet age, equipping Me262, Arado234 and
He162 aircraft with first-generation jet engines. BMW tests rockets for the war effort in Basdorf and Zühlsdorf.
1945 - At the end of the Second World War, BMW lies
in ruins. The works in Eisenach and Dürrerhof, Basdorf and Zühlsdorf are
lost. The factory in Munich is dismantled. The victorious Allies impose
a three-year ban on production because of the company’s involvement in
constructing aircraft engines and rockets.
1990 - BMW forms a joint venture with the British
aerospace company Rolls-Royce PLC to produce aircraft engines for business
jets.
Today, in partnership with Rolls-Royce, BMW produces
the BR700 family of aircraft engines. The BMW RR 715 powers the
Boeing 717
aircraft.
| 
