BMW Museum in Munich

[Gaw]

Here  some pics of BMW Museum in Munich. I recommend to visit everybody!

R32 first BMW


R63:


R68:


An inmortal engine:


Several BMW's:


Prototype R7:


After old models the last BMW model:


BMW Welt


An for ending, my favorite BMW ever first M3:

[DogBoy]

Nice Pics. I went in the summer of '08. Some really cool bikes and cars there.

[denydog]

Thanks for the photos, and the museum recommendation.  

We plan on being there in mid September.  My wife thinks I'm crazy to go to Germany to see a BMW museum, but she's not against seeing the Octoberfest bier tents.  

[Ralf]

Nice! I need to visit there some day. However, I always seem to end up in a beer hall when I have some free time...

[veefer800canuck]

Wow, do you have any more pictures? That was great!  

[Gaw]

Yes Ralf, beer is a temptation in this city

Denydog I'm sure you'll enjoy in Octoberfest, I hope to go someday

Here more photos!

[Global Rider]

Here some pics of BMW Museum in Munich. I recommend to visit everybody!

I'll have to go again. I believe that the BMW museum was recently renovated. Same for the Porsche museum in Stuttgart that I will be visiting this summer.

I was last there in 1998 for BMW's 75th anniversary.

One of the many 75th anniversary displays back then...


I bought a couple of 75th anniversary posters which have been framed and are still hanging on the wall.

[veefer800canuck]

Ohhhh,  


A BMW M1!  

[DogBoy]

I've got a few pics from my visit. The museum was very crowded on the day I visited (a rainy Sunday in July). So crowded it was hard to get a clear picture of some bikes or cars.





















My Favorite!

[SpitfireTriple]

While in Munich, the Deutsche Museum is a must

Packed full of technology.  Interesting to see the contortions they go to to avoid acknowledging Whittle as the inventor of the jet engine.  The thrice-daily "High Voltage" exhibition is spectacular.

[Gaw]

I've got a few pics from my visit. The museum was very crowded on the day I visited (a rainy Sunday in July). So crowded it was hard to get a clear picture of some bikes or cars.

In spite of crowded, really good pics!!

[Global Rider]

Interesting to see the contortions they go to to avoid acknowledging Whittle as the inventor of the jet engine.

Was he...really? I wonder why the Germans were the first to have a jet engine in an aircraft.

Great museum. I was there back in 1998. You really needed a week to see it all in detail.

[SpitfireTriple]

Whittle was

first to conceive of a workable jet engine,
first to formally propose and describe a workable jet engine,
first to apply for a patent for a workable jet engine,
first to get a patent for a workable jet engine,
first to build a workable jet engine,
first to run a jet engine

... and a self-contained one at that, in April 1937.  In September 1937, Von Ohain got his first "device" running - I won't call it an engine.  It relied on mains electricity to drive an electric motor spinning the compresssor, and on mains-pressure gas to pump in the (non-liquid) fuel.  It was no more than a laboratory toy.  And it came five months after Whittle had a working prototype up and running.

Von Ohain was first to put a jet engine aboard an aircraft.
Should we be surprised he beat Whittle into the air?  In a rapidly re-arming Nazi Germany, it was easier to get finance for military projects.

If in your book that makes Von Ohain the inventor, so be it.

[Ralf]

Was at the Deutsches Museum last week with my 7-year-old son. One can easily spend two or more days there. The replica mine in the basement shouldn't be missed.

[SpitfireTriple]

did you take him to the electrical display?  Maybe a bit scary for a 7-year-old

[Ralf]

did you take him to the electrical display?  Maybe a bit scary for a 7-year-old

Yes, we were there in time for the display. Quite impressive, but you're right, it was definitely loud  

[Global Rider]

If in your book that makes Von Ohain the inventor, so be it.

Not in my book, but on another site where he is listed as a co-inventor with another German inventor. Given the choice, I know which I'd sooner fly with.  

One day we'll know for sure...just as we now know that Bell did not invent the telephone.

[SpitfireTriple]

Not in my book, but on another site where he is listed as a co-inventor with another German inventor.

Well, if it's on the internet it must be true.  Where is there a smiley for sarcasm when you need it?

Given the choice, I know which I'd sooner fly with.  

I'm guessing you mean Von Ohain. Me, I'd rather fly in a plane with a Whittle engine.  But then I know rather more than you do about the relative reliability of the British jet engines compared to the German jet engines.  Edit: After typing this, it occurred to me that I may have  jumped to the wrong conclusion

One day we'll know for sure...just as we now know that Bell did not invent the telephone.

First, it is not always the case that the passage of time lends us a more accurate perspective.

Second, I'm guessing you give precedence to someone who did something earlier than bell, and whose claim was perhaps reported in a newspaper, a copy of which is unfortunately unavailable.  

I have for a long time been interested in the history of invention, and there is one thing I have found to be consistently true:  Inventions are seldom as clear-cut as the simplified history books would have us believe.  It is seldom the case that one day there was no XYZ device, the next day there was a fully-functionning XYZ device.  The Wright brothers, for example, are generally regarded as the "inventors" of powered flight.  Yet they were not the first to take off and fly under power.  But the history books have neither time nor space for vagueness; what the history books require is for one person to be identified as the inventor.  That person is generally selected as being the person who did most to make an idea a reality.  Caveat: History books are notoriously partisan, favouring a native son wherever possible.

So, whilst other people took off under power before the Wright brothers, they moved the game on more than anyone else.  Similarly, other people may have dreamed up a vague idea of a new type of engine that would out-perform piston engines, but Whittle had a concrete idea and made it a reality.

There are some things we could argue the toss about.  Who "invented" the computer, for example.  Was it Zuse?  He has a good claim, but his machines lacked conditional branching.  How significant is that?  Was it Tommy Flowers & Co at Bletchley Park, with Colossus?  Well, Colossus was programmable in a way, but it was not a general purpose machine.  Etc.  

But, for a handful of inventions, the lineage is clear.  The jet engine is one of them.

PS Don't tell me.  You believe BMW invented the boxer engine?

[Global Rider]

Well, if it's on the internet it must be true.

I guess we can say that about any source...including maybe yours about Whittle. Who knows.

Me, I'd rather fly in a plane with a Whittle engine.  But then I know rather more than you do about the relative reliability of the British jet engines compared to the German jet engines.  Edit: After typing this, it occurred to me that I may have  jumped to the wrong conclusion

My opinion of British engineering  has always been low simply because of the time period I grew up in; when older people around me had either an MG, Triumph or the odd Lotus. Damn things made better paperweights than transportation. Same goes for their two wheeled creations.

Now the Spitfire was another matter. At least one thing that was good.  

BTW, Wiki didn't recently name Miucci as the inventor of the telephone...it was done at a far higher level than that.