BMW 801

BMW 801
BMW 801D on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford
Type	Piston radial aircraft engine
Manufacturer	BMW
First run	1939
Major applications	Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Junkers Ju 88
Number built	more than 28,000

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.

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.

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 BMW 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's design used many components from the BMW 132 to create a two-row engine with 14 cylinders, supplying 1,550 PS (1,529 hp, 1,140 kW). After BMW bought Bramo in 1939 both projects were merged into the BMW 801, learning from the problems encountered in both projects.

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