In article ,
"Vaughn Simon" wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...
A few years ago a man of my acquaintance picked up a BMW opposed twin
motorcycle engine, and was building an airplane around it.

The wonderful irony is that the original BMW twin was built as an airplane
engine, and then someone thought of trying one in a motorcycle.

No, it wasn't.

BMW made aircraft engines through WW1, including some that were used to
set absolute altitude records (look at the BMW logo; it's a four-blade
propellor quartering alternate blue sky and white clouds).

After WW1, BMW was prohibited from making anything to do with aviation,
so they switched to making cheap office furniture from their stocks of
plywood, and aluminum cookware, since they already had the foundry
capability.

Their first motorcycle was a 148cc moped-ish bike called the "Flink",
never sold under the BMW name, and it failed in the market.

Their first boxer engine was based on the British Douglas engine, and
sold to other companies to put in their motorcycles. They didn't offer a
motorcycle under their own name until the R32 in 1923.

Max Friz, who headed BMW engineering, didn't think much of the
motorcycle business; it was just something to keep them out of
bankruptcy until they could start making airplanes and airplane engines
again.

L.J.K. Setwright wrote a pretty entertaining history of BMW, that used
to be available at BMW shops.