Franz Josef Popp

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Franz Josef Popp (born January 14, 1886 in Vienna , † July 29, 1954 in Stuttgart ) was an Austrian engineer and the first general director ( CEO ) of BMW .

Life

Franz Josef Popp first attended secondary school in Vienna, then the grammar school from which he switched to the German Technical University in Brno . There he completed a degree in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering .

Act

Popp initially joined the AEG Union in Vienna as an electrical construction engineer. Since the AEG-Union was dependent on technical licenses in the field of aircraft engine construction when the war broke out in 1914, they sent Popp to study aircraft engine construction at Daimler , Benz and NAG . However, the start of production at the AEG Union failed due to the lack of machine tools. Popp therefore suggested building the 350 hp Austro-Daimler engine at the Rapp engine works in Munich. These had already built aircraft engines, but they did not meet the requirements of the army administrations. Popp's proposal was accepted by the Austrian Navy , which sent him to Munich to oversee the construction of 224 engines as a representative of the Imperial and Royal Navy.

After a short time, Popp realized that neither the commercial nor the technical management of the plant was able to carry out the order. With the help of the experienced designer Max Friz , whom he had brought in from the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, he took over the management of the plant at the request of the Rapp company, which at the same time was renamed Bayerische Motorenwerke GmbH. Since the order did not guarantee the company's capacity utilization, he tried - again with the help of Max Friz, who was supposed to construct a new altitude engine - to win the Prussian Army Administration as a customer. However, in the course of standardization ( Hindenburg program ), this had other plans, so that at first only parts / license production of engines from Daimler (Mercedes) and Benz was possible. However, Popp succeeded in persuading Major Wagenführ from IdFlieg ( inspection of the flying troops ) to inspect the new design, which convinced him and the experts present so that he initially received an order from IdFlieg Berlin to manufacture 600 engines.

On September 17, 1917, the first BMW III engine (development of which had only started on May 20) ran on the test bench without incidents or complaints. The engine was tested so successfully that IdFlieg immediately ordered additional engines. However, since the financial ceiling of the GmbH was insufficient, the GmbH was converted into an AG on August 12, 1918. The first and only board member was Franz Josef Popp. At the request of IdFlieg, further new designs (BMW II, BMW IIIa, BMW IV ) were tackled, some of which were licensed to other companies ( Deutz , Opel ). At the end of the war in 1918, Popp had created one of the largest aircraft engine plants from an insignificant bankruptcy company (Rapp) in two years with an order backlog of 100 million marks and 3,500 employees, an achievement that was exceptional at the time.

At the end of the war, however, this success was virtually brought to a standstill and Popp had to look around for tasks for a peace production. This initially succeeded with the manufacture of boat and wagon engines, as well as the construction of 100,000 Knorr air brakes annually, which he took over for Bavaria. Finally, he took over the licensing of motorcycle engines from the Victoria Works in Nuremberg. However, since the shareholders opposed this plan, he founded a new company in 1921 with the help of the Austrian industrialist Camillo Castiglioni , bought the name "Bayerische Motorenwerke" (including construction, material and equipment for engine construction) from Knorr-Bremse AG and acquired the Rooms of the disused Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in Munich.

With the help of Max Friz, he created the first BMW motorcycle in 1923, the R 32 with cardan drive . In 1925, with the further developed engines BMW V and VIII , as well as the twelve-cylinder engine BMW VI , aircraft engine production began again. In 1927/28 the license production of the air-cooled radial engines Wasp and Hornet by the American company Pratt & Whitney finally led to the re-establishment of the Flugmotorenfabrik Eisenach GmbH (1936) and the acquisition of the Brandenburg Motor Works (1939). However, the Second World War ruined this success.

Varia

Since Popp vehemently voted against a one-sided alignment of BMW production with military armaments during the war, he was "given leave" by the NS authorities in 1942 . Popp joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933 . In 1936 he got into trouble and threatened to be expelled from the party because he was sticking to his Jewish family doctor. At the court hearing, he stated that he had already sympathized with the NSDAP before 1933 and supported it with his own funds and with the company assets of BMW.

After the Second World War he was imprisoned by the Allies, where he was first classified as a “fellow traveler” during the denazification and as “unencumbered” shortly before his release. After that he tried several times to get back to the top of the company, but it was no longer possible - also due to his poor health.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Josef Popp, In: Who's Who , accessed on August 9, 2020.
  2. ^ Karsten Heinz Schönbach: The German Corporations and National Socialism 1926–1943 . Berlin 2015, p. 200 f.

Web links

  • Franz Josef Popp. In: BMW history. BMW AG, accessed on January 4, 2016 (dossier on Franz Josef Popp in the BMW Group Archive).
personal data
SURNAME Popp, Franz Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian engineer and the first general director of BMW
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1954
Place of death Stuttgart