Max Friz

He was the key contributor of engine design and innovation that led to the founding of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) in 1917.

The engines had separate cylinders on the crankcase and an overhead camshaft driven by a vertical shaft and bevel gears.

Upon arriving at Rapp Motorenwerke, Friz was tasked to develop an aircraft engine that could attain very high altitudes as well as be durable and aerodynamically favorable.

In the spring of 1917, at the time Friz was working at the drawing board on his groundbreaking engine, the outlook for Rapp Motorenwerke was bad.

The Army High Command wanted to commit itself to a few types of aircraft and aeroengine and then get these built under license by several companies.

The interest shown by the officers was considerable, and soon there was no more talk of the Rapp engine factory being relegated to the rank of a mere assembler.

The aeroengine developed by Friz had turned Rapp Motorenwerke into an essential contributor to the war effort virtually overnight.

This is precisely the reason why the engine, now dubbed "Type IIIa", had unique superiority in air combat.

Franz-Zeno Diemer, the pioneering aviator, sets a new world altitude record with a 32,000 ft (9760 m) flight in 1919 using the BMW IVa engine.

In 1917, Rapp Motorenwerke is renamed Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH the predecessor to the modern day BMW AG.

With the development of its first light alloy cylinder head, a much more significant "across the frame" version of the boxer engine was designed.

Using the new aluminum alloy cylinders, Friz designed a 486 cc (29.7 cu in) engine with 8.5 hp (6.3 kW) and a top speed of 95–100 km/h (59–62 mph).