BMW took over a license for manufacturing air-cooled radial engines from Pratt & Whitney on 3 January 1928. The nine-cylinder model Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was initially manufactured virtually unchanged under the designation BMW Hornet.
Soon BMW embarked on its own development. The result was the BMW 132, essentially an improved version of the Hornet engine, that went into production in 1933. A number of different versions were built; aside from the carburetor designs used mainly in civilian aircraft, versions with direct fuel injection were manufactured for the GermanLuftwaffe. The engines had a displacement of 27.7 L (1,690 cu in) and generated up to 1,065 PS (1,050 hp; 783 kW) depending on model.
The 132 found widespread use in the transport role, remaining the primary powerplant of the Junkers Ju 52 for much of its life, turning the BMW 132 into one of the most important aircraft engines for civilian aircraft during the 1930s.
Numerous pioneering flights were undertaken with the BMW 132. The most impressive was the first direct flight from Berlin to New York in a four-engined Focke-Wulf 200 S-1 Condor. It covered the distance to New York in 24 hours and 57 minutes on 10 August 1938.
^Wilkinson, Paul H. (1960). Aircraft engines of the World 1960/61 (16th ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd. p. 260.
^Schneider, Helmut (Dipl.Ing.) (1944). Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Handbuch der deutschen Luftfahrt- und Zubehör-Industrie 1944 (in German) (Facsimile reprint 1986 ed.). Leipzig: Herm. Beyer Verlag. p. 369. ISBN381120484X.
Bibliography
Bingham, Victor (1998). Major Piston Aero Engines of World War II. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN1-84037-012-2.
Gunston, Bill (2006). World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines: From the Pioneers to the Present Day (5th ed.). Stroud, UK: Sutton. ISBN0-7509-4479-X.
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