There are war profiteers, such as Castiglioni, and victims who, for example as soldiers, lose their health or even their lives, not to mention the psychological consequences. The naval officer Franz Josef Popp, however, does not belong to either group. From 1916 until the Second World War, he is much closer to the company's events than Castigioni, but mostly works together with him in a spirit of trust. Whereby the greater workload falls overwhelmingly to Popp.

What is not really noticeable in his main function later as general director of BMW is that he also had an engineering education. This, however, was more in the field of railways, which, incidentally, will still be important for BMW's fate after the high-altitude world record. He studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the Technical University in Brno. His first job was, with AEG-Union in Vienna working on large electric locomotives. The booming construction of railways has long since subsided somewhat in the lowlands. People now dared to go into the mountains. In 1912, Popp is said to have been the first to drive a locomotive on the new Mittenwald railway from Innsbruck to Garmisch. It already had the new compressed air brake on board, which Popp was forced to deal with later.

He should be listed in the annals today as the actual founder of BMW, who always held on to the idea that the company should also or solely be regarded as a manufacturer of two- and four-wheelers. Furthermore, his initiative in founding the public limited company 'Bayerische Motoren Werke' in 1917 should be attributed the only justification. In contrast, the year 1916 seems rather outlandish for a completely different company. The white and blue logo with 'B.M.W.' is also said to have been designed by him. Only then did he become managing director with all rights and duties. Even the new, huge factory, although built by the state, is said to be mainly due to his initiative.

But how does this engineer Franz-Josef Popp enter our history of BMW? It can be dated precisely, namely to the end of November 1916, when he arrived in Munich at the Rapp-Motorenwerke. In the meantime he had served as a marine and was now supervising the production of aircraft engines at Austro-Daimler as a first lieutenant in the reserves. In Munich he found neither suitable halls nor tools for the production of such engines. Presumably, in his opinion, the licence order to Rapp had been the worst possible decision.

But strangely enough, he does not make this known to his superiors. Somehow he seems to be involved in Castiglioni's machinations and his quest for high commission payments. The application of Max Friz, who wants to make a career change from Daimler in Stuttgart to Munich, comes in very handy. Of course, Popp doesn't know at the time that Friz will be a stroke of luck and help save the company more than once. But he has learned to appreciate the conditions at Daimler from his supervisory work. So Popp took the initiative relatively quickly in the company run by Rapp and hired Friz.

In the military, Popp was only a reservist, despite his relatively demanding and responsible job, so he was actually still employed by AEG-Union. He now terminated this employment and was listed as technical director on the payroll of Rapp-Motorenwerke. His boss Wiedemann and Rapp itself gave him a largely free hand, which Popp used to bring a new engine designed by Friz to success. Despite the war, the production at Rapp no longer seemed to be a winning proposition. This was one of the reasons for the change of name from 'Rappp Motorenwerke' in the summer of 1917.

An inspection is due in the autumn. Actually, this means that the crew appointed by the military administration only looks, but in this case the sword of Damocles is not to descend on the company for the last time in BMW's history, with the consequence of being downgraded to assembling Daimler engines. Alternatively, Benz engines would still be up for grabs. No contradiction seemed possible and yet Popp succeeded in arousing the gentlemen's curiosity about the new aircraft engine through a conversation that had probably been arranged with Friz beforehand. Unbelievable but true, the one running on the test bench inspired so much that this became BMW's new destiny.

For the rest of the story, everything depends on the success of this engine, which ultimately justified the construction of the new, greatly enlarged factory. And it was precisely this that caused Popp a major headache after the end of the war. At the end of 1918, (his) factory with 3,000 workers and 400 employees had to close. Until the end, about 140 aircraft engines had been delivered per month. A more powerful six-cylinder was about to go into series production and a V12 was to be put on the test bench as soon as possible. A brief episode of building engine ploughs under licence did not bring any noticeable relief either.

There followes, of course, the yet-to-be-told story of the creation of the M2B15 engine. But Victoria couldn't sell so many motorbikes that the production of engines for them even came close to occupying this huge factory. And now it does make an appearance in this chapter, the story of the railway brakes. Perhaps you already know that in former times trains were braked in such a way that people in so-called brakeman's huts, distributed all over the train, applied mechanical brakes on command from the locomotive. A train accident in 1866 is said to have prompted a certain George Westinghouse to develop an air pressure brake for trains.

Incidentally, Henry Ford is said to have worked as a mechanic for Westinghouse in his early years, albeit on steam-powered traction engines for farmers. And while in the USA the air brake was made compulsory for all trains from 1893, in Germany this regulation did not come into effect until the 20th century. Knorr-Bremse AG was granted a licence to build such equipment, and so the partial order to equip Bavarian railways went to BMW. It was possible to avoid being downgraded as an assembly company during the war, but not in the difficult post-war times.