The BMW VI was a

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...

V-12

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

built in Germany in the 1920s. It was one of the most important German aero engines in the years leading up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, with thousands built. It was further developed as the

BMW VII __NOTOC__ The BMW VII was a water-cooled twelve-cylinder engine derived from the successful BMW VI. The engine was not as popular as the VI, due in no small part to the Great Depression, and only a small number were built. Experiments with super ...

and

BMW IX The BMW iX is a battery-electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer BMW. It was unveiled in concept form named Vision iNext at the 2018 Paris Motor Show, and then as fully production-rea ...

, although these saw considerably less use. It was also produced in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

as the M-17 and Japan as the Kawasaki Ha-9.

Design and development

The BMW VI was the first twelve-cylinder engine built by the BMW. It essentially consisted of two

cylinder bank The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

s from the six-cylinder BMW IV bolted to a common cast aluminium crankcase at a 60-degree included angle between the cylinder banks. Series production commenced in 1926 after type approval had been granted. From 1930 on, after 1000 engines of the BMW VI type had already been delivered,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

was again permitted to construct military aircraft. The sudden additional demand resulted in the production figures increasing rapidly. In 1933 the BMW VI was used for BMW's first experiments with direct fuel injection. The BMW VI was the chosen source of power for numerous record-breaking and long-distance flights, including an east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic in 1930 and a round-the world flight in 1932, both by

Wolfgang von Gronau Hans Wolfgang von Gronau (25 February 1893 - 17 March 1977) was a German aviation pioneer. Biography Wolfgang von Gronau was born in Berlin in a family hailing from the ancient dynasty of the House of Berg. He was the son of artillery General Han ...

in an open

Dornier Wal The Dornier Do J ''Wal'' ("whale") is a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by ''Dornier Flugzeugwerke''. The Do J was designated the Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry (''RLM'') under its aircraft designation system of 1933. De ...

flying boat powered by two BMW VI engines. The BMW VI was put to unusual use as a power unit for the "

Rail Zeppelin The () or rail zeppelin was an experimental railcar which resembled a Zeppelin airship in appearance. It was designed and developed by the German aircraft engineer Franz Kruckenberg in 1929. Propulsion was by means of a pusher propeller located ...

" high-speed railcar. Many versions of the BMW VI engine were developed, and it was built under license in Japan and the Soviet Union. This was further evidence of the reliability of an engine with which BMW made a fundamental contribution to the build-up of German air transport. At least 9,200 were built between 1926 and 1938. The engine was license-built in the

under the supervision of Mikulin, who then further developed it as the M-17. More license built engines were produced by

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (or simply Kawasaki) is a Japanese Public company, public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, Heavy equipment (construction), heavy equipment, aerospace and Military, defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headq ...

in Japan as the Kawasaki Ha9 (long designation:- Army Type 98 850hp Liquid Cooled In-line).

Variants

5.5, 6 or 7.3 denotes compression ratio. No additional letter denotes BMW carburetor and direct-drive propeller (7.3), u denotes a propeller reduction gear (7.3u), z denotes Zenith carburetor (7.3z), zu denotes Zenith carburetor and propeller reduction gear (7.3zu). BMW VI right side front

;BMW VI 5.5 : Compression ratio 5.5:1, at up to 1600 rpm at sea level ;BMW VI 6.0 : Compression ratio 6:1, at up to 1650 rpm at sea level, 80 Octane fuel ;BMW VI 7.3 : Compression ratio 7.3:1 at up to 1700 rpm at sea level,

87 Octane An octane rating, or octane number, is a standard measure of a fuel's ability to withstand compression in an internal combustion engine without detonating. The higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel can withstand before detonating. ...

fuel

;

Mikulin M-17 The Mikulin M-17 was a Soviet-licensed copy of the German BMW VI V-12 liquid-cooled aircraft piston engine, further developed by Alexander Mikulin and used by Soviet aircraft and tanks during World War II. Production began in 1930 and continued ...

: Licence production in the USSR BMW VI valve covers

;Kawasaki Ha9: (long designation:- Army Type 98 850hp Liquid Cooled In-line) licence production in Japan by Kawasaki

Applications

Albatros L 77v __NOTOC__ The Albatros L 77v was a German tandem two-seat reconnaissance fighter biplane, four examples of which were built under license for Albatros Flugzeugwerke by Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1928. Based upon the L 76 Aeolus reconnaissa ...

Arado Ar 64 The Arado Ar 64 was a single-seat biplane fighter, developed in the late 1920s. It was among the first fighters produced when Germany abandoned the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and began rearming. Design and development The Ar 64 ...

Arado Ar 65 The Arado Ar 65 was the single-seat biplane fighter successor to the Ar 64. Both looked very similar. The only major difference was the use of a 12-cylinder inline engine versus the Ar 64's radial. The wingspan was also increased. The Ar 65 a ...

* Arado Ar 68 *

Arado SSD I __NOTOC__ The Arado SSD I was a biplane fighter seaplane developed in Germany in 1930, intended to be launched from catapults on warships. This was an all-new design from Walter Rethel, sharing nothing with his other fighter designs for Arado of ...

Dornier Do 10 The Dornier Do 10, originally designated Dornier Do C4, was the name given by the ''Reichsluftfahrtministerium'' (RLM) of a pre-World War II German aircraft. It was a two-seat parasol-wing monoplane, intended to be used as a fighter. Two prototy ...

Dornier Do 14 __NOTOC__ The Dornier Do 14 was a prototype seaplane, developed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke with backing from the Luftwaffe for experimental propulsion studies. The aircraft was similar to the Dornier Do 12 The Dornier Do 12 ''Libelle'' III ("Dra ...

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...

Focke-Wulf Fw 42 The Focke-Wulf Fw 42 was a design for a twin-engined medium bomber, of canard configuration, that was designed by Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG in Germany in the early 1930s. Several air forces expressed interest in the aircraft. However, despite ...

Heinkel He 45 The Heinkel He 45 was a light bomber produced in Germany in the early 1930s, one of the first aircraft adopted by the newly formed ''Luftwaffe''. Its appearance was that of a conventional biplane and included seating for pilot and gunner in ta ...

Heinkel He 51 The Heinkel He 51 was a Nazi Germany, German single-seat biplane which was produced in a number of different versions. It was initially developed as a Fighter aircraft, fighter; a seaplane variant and a Ground-attack aircraft, ground-attack ...

Heinkel He 59 The Heinkel He 59 was a twin-engined German biplane designed in 1930, resulting from a requirement for a torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft able to operate on wheeled landing gear or twin-floats. Development In 1930, Ernst Heinkel bega ...

Heinkel He 60 The Heinkel He 60 was a German single-engined biplane reconnaissance seaplane designed to be catapulted from ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) warships of the 1930s. Development and design The Heinkel He 60 was designed by Heinkel engineer Reinho ...

Heinkel He 70 The Heinkel He 70 ''Blitz'' ("lightning") was a German mail plane and fast passenger monoplane aircraft of the 1930s designed by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, which was later used as a bomber and for aerial reconnaissance. It had a brief commercial ca ...

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

* Junkers F.24ko *

Kawasaki Type 92 The Kawasaki KDA-5 was a Japanese single-seat biplane fighter designed by the German Dr. Richard Vogt for the Imperial Japanese Army. Development The KDA-5 was designed by Richard Vogt to meet a Japanese Army requirement for a fighter biplane. ...

Kawasaki Ki-10 The was the last biplane Fighter aircraft, fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army, entering service in 1935 in aviation, 1935. Built by Kawasaki Aerospace Company, Kawasaki Kōkūki Kōgyō K.K. for the Imperial Japanese Army, it saw combat ...

Messerschmitt M.20 The BFW M.20 (also known as the Messerschmitt M.20 after the designer's surname) was a German single-engine, high-wing monoplane ten-seat Airliner, passenger transport aircraft, developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Deutsche Luft Hansa use ...

Polikarpov R-5 The Polikarpov R-5 (russian: Р-5) was a Soviet reconnaissance bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was the standard light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Soviet Air Force for much of the 1930s, while also being used heavily as a civilian l ...

prototype *

Schienenzeppelin The () or rail zeppelin was an experimental railcar which resembled a Zeppelin airship in appearance. It was designed and developed by the German aircraft engineer Franz Kruckenberg in 1929. Propulsion was by means of a pusher propeller located ...

Tupolev TB-3 The Tupolev TB-3 (russian: Тяжёлый Бомбардировщик, Tyazhyolyy Bombardirovshchik, Heavy Bomber, civilian designation ANT-6) was a monoplane heavy bomber deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and used during the early ...

Specifications (BMW VI 7.3z )

Design and development

Variants

Applications

Specifications (BMW VI 7.3z )

See also

References

Further reading