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What companies made engines for german world war 2 airplanes?

My wife and I are having a debate. She says BMW made engines for German World War 2 aircraft and I say they didn't. Can you help us settle this? Any links to prove it's true or not would be helpful.

8 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    many companies made them.

    bmw

    daimler-benz

    argus motoren

    junkers motoren

    hirth motoren

  • 1 decade ago

    For example FockeWulf Fw-190 had a BMW-801 twin row radial engine.

    And Junkers Ju-52 was engined by BMW-132.

    BMW Bramo 323 engined the Fw-200 "condor", Dornier Do-24, Dornier Do-17 and Henschel Hs-126

    Other engine manufacturers were Junkers Motoren(Jumo), Daimler-Benz and Argus.

  • 1 decade ago

    BMW actually made the original turbine engines for the ME 262 (first practical turbine powered fighter plane) which was the BMW 003 turbojet. these eninges were replaced by more powerful Junkers Jumo 004.

  • RGTIII
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    BMW did make them.

    Look carefully at the BMW logo. It was originally (without the letters B-M-W) the spinner to the propeller. They built the engines for the Focke Wulf 109.

    Sorry, pal, but you loose this one!

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  • Ronin
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    BMW yes. Notice the BMW logo. It's a prop.

  • robbie
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    BMW probably, but I'm not sure.

    Mercedes for sure.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Yes, BMW did build engines for aircraft. only prop though, damn good ones at that. The BMW-801 radial engine - The german BMW 801 twin row radial engine formed the basis of the Focke Wulf fw190 design. This engine has the reputation as being among the better engine designs of WW2. The Foke Wulf 190 was one bad aircraft, and gave the RAF a real headache.

    Here are the specs on the 2 BMW engines developed in WW2

    The BMW 003 was an early turbojet engine produced in Germany during World War II. Work on its design began earlier than the contemporary Junkers Jumo 004 engine, but prolonged developmental problems meant that the BMW 003 entered production much later, and the aircraft projects that had been designed with it in mind had been re-engined with the Jumo powerplant instead. The most famous case of this was the Messerschmitt Me 262, and the same was true of the Arado Ar 234 and Gotha Go 229. The only production aircraft to use the BMW 003 were the Heinkel He 162 and late, four-engined versions of the Arado Ar 234. After the war, the engine continued to be produced in the Soviet Union, and also formed the basis for turbojet development in Japan during the war, and France afterwards. Some 500 engines were built in Germany, but very few were ever installed in aircraft.

    The practicality of jet propulsion had been demonstrated in Germany in early 1937 by Hans von Ohain working with the Heinkel company. Recognising the potential of the invention, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM - Government Air Ministry) encouraged Germany's aero engine manufacturers to begin their own programmes of jet engine development. The BMW 003 began development as a project of the Brandenburgische Motorenwerke (The Brandenburg Motor Works, known as "Bramo") under the direction of Hermann Östrich and assigned the RLM designation 109-003 (the 109- prefix common to all jet engine projects). Bramo was also developing another turbojet, the 109-002. In 1939, BMW bought out Bramo, and in the acquisition, obtained both engine projects. The 109-002 had a very sophisticated contra-rotating compressor design intended to eliminate torque, but was abandoned in favour of the simpler engine, which in the end proved to have enough development problems of its own.

    Construction began late in the same year and the engine ran for the first time in 1940, but produced less than half of the thrust expected, 2.5 kN instead of 6.3 kN. The first flight test took place in mid-1941, mounted underneath a Messerschmitt Bf 110. Problems continued, however, meaning that while the Me 262 (the first aircraft intended for the engine) was ready for flight-testing, there were no powerplants available for it and it actually began flight tests with a conventional Junkers Jumo 210 piston engine in the nose. It was not until November 1941 that the Me 262 was flown with BMW engines, which both failed during the test, the prototype having to return to the airfield on the power of the piston engine, which luckily, was still fitted.

    The general usage of the BMW powerplant was abandoned for the Me 262, except for two experimental examples of the plane known as the Me 262 A-1b, but work on it continued at BMW, and by late 1942 it had been made far more powerful and reliable. The improved engine was flight tested under a Junkers Ju 88 in October 1943 and was finally ready for mass production in August 1944, in time to power the He 162.

    One late version of the engine added a small rocket motor (BMW 109-718) at the rear of the engine, which added some 9.8 kN of thrust for take off and short dashes. In this configuration, it was known as the BMW-003R and was tested on a single Me 262, and perhaps a He 162 as well.

    The BMW-003 was intended for export to Japan, but working examples of the engine were never supplied. Instead, Japanese engineers used drawings and photos of the engine to design an indigenous turbojet, the Ishikawajima Ne-20.

    Following the war, two captured BMW-003s powered the prototype of the first Soviet jet, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, and copies of this engine, designated RD-20 powered this aircraft in series production.

    At the end of the war, Östrich fled to Switzerland, but soon accepted an offer from the French government to work on further refining the -003 for Voisin, a division of SNECMA. The result was the Atar, which in various forms powered French military aircraft for decades to come.

    [edit] Specifications (BMW 003A-1)

    General characteristics

    Type: Nonafterburning turbojet

    Length: 3,530 mm (139 in)

    Diameter: 690 mm (27 in)

    Dry weight: 562 kg (1,240 lb)

    Components

    Compressor: 7-stage axial compressor

    Combustors: Annular

    Turbine: Single-stage

    Performance

    Thrust: 800 kgf (7.8 kN; 1,760 lbf) at 9,500 rpm

    Specific fuel consumption: 14.4 kg/(kN·h) (0.14 lb/(lbf·h))

    Thrust-to-weight ratio: 13.9 N/kg (1.42)

    The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German military aircraft of World War II. The engine's cylinders were in two rows of seven cylinders each, the bore and stroke were both 156 mm, giving a total capacity of 41.8 litres (2,560 in³). The engine generated between 1,600 and 2,000 metric horsepower (1,176 and 1,471 kW). The unit (including mounts) weighed around 1,250 kg and was about 1.27 m across, depending on the model

    In the 1930s, BMW took out a license to build the Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines. By the mid-30s they had introduced an improved version, the BMW 132. The 132 was widely used, most notably on the Junkers Ju 52, which it powered for much of that design's lifetime.

    In 1935 the RLM funded prototypes of two much larger radial designs, one from Bramo, the Bramo 329, and another from BMW, the BMW 139. BMW bought Bramo soon after the projects started; unsurprisingly BMW folded the Bramo engineers into the BMW project, cancelling the Bramo design. The resulting proposal was essentially a two-row version of the 132, the 1,400 hp (1,029 kW) BMW 139.

    The 139 was originally intended to be used in similar roles as the other German radials, namely bombers and transport aircraft, but mid-way through the program Kurt Tank suggested it for use in the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter project. Radial engines were rare in land-based fighters at the time due to their larger frontal size, but Tank felt that attention to detail could result in a streamlined radial that would not suffer undue drag.

    The main concern was providing cooling air at the tops of the cylinders, which generally required a very larger opening at the front of the aircraft. His solution for the 139 was to use an engine-driven fan behind an oversized prop-spinner, blowing air through the engine, with some of it being "sucked" through S-shaped ducts over a radiator for oil cooling. However this system proved almost impossible to make work with the 139; early prototypes of the 190 demonstrated terrible cooling problems. Although the problems appeared to be fixable, since the engine was already fairly dated in terms of design, in 1938 BMW proposed an entirely new engine that could be brought to production quickly. Work started in October.

    Differences between the 139 and the new design were fairly minor and limited primarily to details except for the use of 14 larger cylinders instead of 18 smaller ones. The new design was given the name 801 after BMW was given a new block of engine numbers by the RLM to use after their merger with Bramo. The 801 retained the 139's older-style single-valve intake and exhaust for instance, while most engines of the era had moved to four valves per cylinder, or in British use, sleeve valves. Several advances were worked into the design, however, including the use of sodium-cooled valves and a fuel injection system. The supercharger was rather basic in the early models, using a single-stage two-speed design directly geared to the engine (unlike the DB 601's hydraulically-clutched version) which led to rather limited altitude performance in keeping with its intended medium-altitude usage. One key advancement was the kommandogeraet (command-device), a mechanical-hydraulic unit that automatically adjusted engine fuel flow, propeller pitch, supercharger setting, mixture and ignition timing in response to a single throttle lever, dramatically simplifying engine control, and could be considered a pioneering step towards the use of a type of "computer" to control an internal combustion engine's operation, as in modern automobile and truck engines.

    The first 801A's ran in April 1939, only six-months after starting work on the design. The 801B series were identical to the A models, but ran the airscrew in the opposite direction to the left using a different gearbox. They were intended to be used in pairs with the A series on twin-engine designs, thereby cancelling out net torque and making the plane easier to handle. The 801L was an A model modified for "tropical" use. However all of these proved to have terrible cooling problems as well, and a number of efforts were improvised in an attempt to cure them.

    Eventually all of the A, B and L's were replaced with the C series, which included a new hydraulic prop control and various changes intended to improve cooling, including cooling "gills" on the cowling behind the engine. The 801C-1 engines used in the first 190A-1 fighter aircraft delivered about 1,560 hp (1,147 kW) for takeoff, improved to 1,600 hp (1,176 kW) in the 801C-2 used in the 190A-2.

    These were soon replaced with the 801D series engines, which ran on C2/C3 100 octane fuel instead of the A/B/C's B4 87 octane, boosting takeoff power to 1,700 hp (1,250 kW) in the D-1, and 1,730 hp (1,270 kW) in the strengthened D-2. The D models also included a system for injecting a 50-50 water-methanol mixture known as MW50 into the supercharger output to cool the charge, and thereby reduce backpressure. Although practically every production model 190 included the 801D engine, it was not until very late in the war that the MW50 kits were actually supplied and available. With boosting on, low and medium-altitude performance improved considerably, with takeoff power increasing to 2,000 hp (1,470 kW). The 801G and H models were D engines modified for use in bomber roles with lower gear ratios for driving larger propellers, right and left turning, respectively.

    With the engine now being used in higher-altitude fighter roles, a number of attempts were made to address the limited performance of the original supercharger. The 801E was a modification of the D-2 using supercharger gear ratios tuned to higher altitudes. Although takeoff power was unaffected, cruise power increased over 100 hp (75 kW) and "high power" modes for climb and combat were likewise improved by up to 150 hp (110 kW). The E model was also used as the basis for the 801R, which included a much more complex and powerful two-stage four-speed supercharger. Continued improvements to the basic E model led to the 801F, which dramatically improved performance across the board, with takeoff power increasing to 2,400 hp (1,790 kW). It was planned to use the F on all late-model Fw 190's, but the war ended before production started.

    A number of attempts were made to use turbochargers on the 801 series as well. The first used a modified 801D to create the 801J, delivering 1,810 hp (1,331 kW) at takeoff and 1,500 hp (1,103 kW) at 40,000 ft (12,200 m), an altitude where the D was struggling to produce 630 hp (463 kW). The 801E was likewise modified to create the 801Q, delivering a superb 1,715 hp (1,261 kW) at 40,000 ft (12,200 m), power ratings no existing allied engine could touch. However none of these engines ever entered production due to high costs, and the various high-altitude designs based on them were forced to turn to other engines entirely, typically the Junkers Jumo 213.

    Engines were typically delivered from BMW complete in their cowling, ready to be bolted to the front of the plane, since 1942 as Motoranlage (M) and 1944/1945 as Triebwerksanlage (T). The Motorenanlage was the interchangeable Kraftei, or "power-egg", powerplant installation format used in many German wartime aircraft, with some need for external add-ons and the Triebwerksanlage was the Motoranlage + some external mountings like exhaust pipes as completely interchangeable unit.

    The M and T versions confuses the naming considerably, as they referred to these complete kits and their "bare" engine counterparts almost interchangeably. The A, B and L models were known (logically) as the MA, MB and ML in this form, but the common D-2 was instead known as the MG. The E model was delivered as the TG or TH, seemingly suggesting a relation to the G and H engines, but in fact those were delivered as the TL and TP. It is rather common to see the turbocharged versions referred to only with the T, notably the TJ and TQ models, further confusing the issue.

    [edit] Variants

    801A,B,C: 1,600 hp (1,176 kW)

    801D,G,H: 1,730 hp (1,272 kW)

    801E,S: 2,000 hp (1,471 kW)

    801F: 2,400 hp (1,765 kW), development halted by the end of the war

    [edit] Specifications (BMW 801C-2)

    General characteristics

    Type: 14-cylinder supercharged two-row air-cooled radial engine

    Bore: 156 mm (6.14 in)

    Stroke: 156 mm (6.14 in)

    Displacement: 41.8 litres (2,550 in³)

    Length: 2,006 mm (79 in)

    Diameter: 1,290 mm (51 in)

    Dry weight: 1,055 kg (2,325 lb)

    Components

    Valvetrain: One intake and one sodium-cooled exhaust valve per cylinder

    Supercharger: Gear-driven single-stage two-speed

    Fuel system: Fuel injection

    Cooling system: Air-cooled

    Performance

    Power output: 1,176 kW (1,600 hp) at 2,700 rpm for takeoff

    Specific power: 28.1 kW/L (0.62 hp/in³)

    Compression ratio: 6.5:1

    Specific fuel consumption: 0.308 kg/(kW·h) (0.506 lb/(hp·h))

    Power-to-weight ratio: 1.11 kW/kg (0.69 hp/lb)

    hope this helps! CJ.

    Source(s): Aircraft Nut.
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