We are a group of people fascinated by the history of the Luftwaffe and the undeniable influence of this formation on the development of aviation technology and break out of stereotypes futuristic thinking about aviation. Our fascination is not in any case lined with ideological background and sympathy towards Nazism and its crimes. 4 people, different country, different history, one fascination - Luftwaffe. Jaroslaw Zietkiewicz and team
BMW Flugmotorenbau GmbH in 1936 moved into the new factory it had built at Allach on the outskirts of Munich. This is where the MTU Aero Engines is located today. (source: www.mtu.de)
With the BMW 801, BMW Flugmotorenbau GmbH developed the first German twin-row radial engine. With the Nazi regime’s ever-expanding military build-up and the subsequent war, during which the BMW 801 found extensive use as the powerplant for a number of fighter aircraft, among them the Focke-Wulf Fw190, the company pushed the speed of development and the scale of production to the limits of its capacity. Sadly it even went far beyond, especially towards the end of the war, when thousands of forced laborers had to work at the plant to further increase its output. After just two years of development, the first engines were delivered in 1940, and production — which mainly took place in Munich-Allach — was ramped up to around 1,000 units per month by early 1944. In all, the company produced some 30,000 BMW 801s. (source: www.mtu.de)
The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled 14-cylinder-radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 PS (1,540-1,970 hp, or 1,150-1,470 kW). It was the most produced radial engine of Germany in World War II with more than 28,000 built.
FW190 A5 BMW801 Engine startup
The 801 was originally intended to replace existing radial types in German transport and utility aircraft. At the time, it was widely agreed among European designers that an inline engine was a requirement for high performance designs due to its smaller frontal area and resulting lower drag. Kurt Tank successfully fitted a BMW 801 to a new fighter design he was working on, and as a result the 801 became best known as the power plant for the famous Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
