History of bmw bmw towers and museum

Rapp Motorenwerke
In 1913, Karl Rapp established Rapp Motorenwerke near the Oberwiesenfeld.^[3] Rapp had chosen the site because it was close to Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik, with whom he had contracts to supply his four-cylinder aircraft engines.^[3]
Rapp was sub-contracted by Austro-Daimler to manufacture their V12 aircraft engines. Austro-Daimler at the time was unable to meet its own demands to build V12 Aero engines. The officer supervising aero-engine building at Austro-Daimler on behalf of the Austrian government wasFranz Josef Popp. When it was decided to produce Austro-Daimler engines at Rapp Motorenwerke, Popp was delegated to Munich from Vienna to supervise engine quality.^[3]
Popp did not restrict himself to the role of observer, becoming actively involved in the overall management of the company. On 7 March 1916, Rapp Motorenwerke became Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH.^[4]
Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH 1917

BMW IIIa engine
For the small BMW business, the large orders received from the Reichswehr for the BMW IIIa engine were overwhelming. Under Karl Rapp, only a small number of engines had been produced and the manufacturing facilities were not in any way adequate to handle the mass production now required. Not only did BMW lack suitable machine tools but, to a very large degree, skilled manpower as well. However, the most serious drawback was in the small and aging workshops. Nevertheless, under the state-controlled war economy, officials in the relevant ministries were able to give BMW extensive practical support.^[5] So in a short time BMW got the skilled workers and machinery it needed. In addition, the Munich company received a high level of financial assistance, which enabled it to build a completely new factory from the ground up, in the immediate vicinity of the old workshops. Due to the share capital being too small, both the building of the new plant and the working capital needed for materials and wages had to be financed with external funds, i.e. bank loans or state assistance. The war ministries of Bavaria and Prussia (then both separate kingdoms within the Kaiser’s Empire) did not, however, wish to go on supporting BMW with loans and guarantees, and therefore urged the flotation of a public limited company.^[6]