Special exhibition ‘BMW aircraft engines from Eisenach’

Last Saturday, Eberhard Spee, member of the Board of Trustees of the Automobile Welt Eisenach Foundation, opened the new special exhibition at the automobile welt eisenach museum as curator.

A large crowd had already formed before 1 p.m. in front of the roller shutter behind which the new exhibition is located. Helpers had been working on the presentation and design right up to the last minute. At the opening, the scientific director, Dr Jessica Lindner-Elsner, and the chairman of the board of the Automobile World Eisenach Foundation, Christoph Ihling, spoke about the significance of the new exhibition and also about how much work goes into such a project. Eberhard Spee then led a group of interested visitors through the exhibition space and explained the photographs and technical details in detail. In addition to contemporary images and texts, the special exhibition also features two special exhibits.

At the centre of the exhibition is a BMW 132 aircraft engine on loan from the BMW Group Classic Museum in Munich. In order to be able to visualise the functional principle of a radial engine, Eberhard Spee developed a kinematics model of the aircraft engine together with cabinetmaker Wolfram Böhnhardt, Chairman of the awe museum association. Interested parties can use it to scrutinise the movement sequences of the pistons and connecting rods. Drone footage shows what can barely be seen with the naked eye on the Dürrerhof 80 years after the end of the Second World War and gives an impression of the size of the former BMW aircraft engine plant. The exhibition ends with a section on forced labourers and concentration camp prisoners in the city and on the Dürrerhof who were forced to work in aircraft engine production.

The special exhibition can now be viewed until the end of March 2026 as part of the museum tour.