Model of the month - BFW M 18
BFW (Bayrische Flugzeugwerke = Udet Flugzeugbau + Messerschmitt GmbH included) M18
This aircraft is an important milestone in German - but also in international aircraft design: Developed and initially built until 1925 in Bamberg by Willy Messerschmitt in his new Flugzeugbau GmbH, the ‘real’ construction of this first metal aircraft of Messerschmitt (Mtt) for 4 passengers + 2 pilots (at that time still called aircraft pilot) only really started in Augsburg in the company BFW founded by the Bavarian state.
This new company was a merger (due to government pressure) of Udet Flugzeugbau - which was insolvent - and Messerschmitt GmbH from Bamberg. The new company headquarters were in Augsburg. It should be noted that the BMW aircraft engine company was founded in 1916 and built outstanding aircraft engines for the German air force during the World War. Then there were the aeroplanes of Otto-Flugzeugwerke, which became insolvent. However, their business basis was taken away by the aircraft design ban of the Versailles ‘Treaty’, this company was renamed ‘BFW’ in 1922, only to be renamed back to BMW again later and then to build motorbikes (the famous Boxer engine!) and later aircraft engines again.
Messerschmitt was one of the so-called ‘Rhön Indians’, i.e. he built and flew his own gliders there on the Wasserkuppe almost from the very beginning. It should also be added that it was here that he met the British aeroplane builder Frederick Handley-Page and the German aerodynamicist Gustav Lachmann, who together developed the automatic slats, which were initially used by Handley-Page but soon also by Messerschmitt as lift aids in low-speed flight (take-off + landing) and are now used worldwide in all possible variations in high-speed flight.
Messerschmitt was a pioneer of lightweight aeroplane design - saving weight wherever possible, but often also very accident-prone: his 2-seater wooden monoplane motor glider from 1925 - still developed in Bamberg.
Here you can already see the future line of development: high wing, high aspect ratio wings, lightweight construction and relatively weak engines, due to weight reasons. This M 17 weighed 198 kg empty (slightly more than the much later Schleicher Ka 6 glider!).
The metal commercial aircraft of Messerschmitt, from left to right: M 18 (1925) for 4 passengers, M 20/M 24 (1928) for 10 passengers and the M 36 (= ICAR Comercial in Romania) for 6 passengers. Below: The M 18
The background to this aircraft was that Theo Croneiß, a World War I aviator and founder of Nordbayrische Verkehrsflug GmbH in Fürth, was looking for a feeder aircraft for 4 passengers and found the right man to build it in Willy Messerschmitt. It was to cost no more than 25,000 Reichsmarks (money after inflation), 1/3 of the price of other aircraft.
An air-cooled 7-cylinder radial engine SH 11 from Siemens with 80 hp was intended as the engine (most UltraLights have this engine power today!).
They started with a wooden mockup and space for 3 passengers + 1 pilot, still at the ‘old’ company headquarters in Bamberg. Then came the metal version in Augsburg, which took off for the first time in June 1926 with Theo Croneiß as pilot, and just 4 weeks later the aircraft began regular service in Fürth. From the 2nd M 18 onwards, the Siemens SH 12 was used, now with 100 hp take-off power, so that 4 passengers could now be transported. Croneiß took delivery of 19 M 18s, a considerable number for those times. By 1934, 26 BFW M 18s had been produced. The Swiss Ad Astra Aero took delivery of 1 aircraft, the prototype for our model.
It should be added that only 12 years later, work began on the Me 262 turbo fighter. During these 12 years, enormous aeronautical developments had taken place, including the retractable landing gear going into series production, the automatic propeller adjustment began its triumphal march and improved take-off and landing capability and high-speed flight, metal-shell/semi-shell aircraft construction became commonplace and increased speeds and reduced weight, new wing profiles up to the laminar profile, and the NACA canopies for the flow improvements of the air-cooled radial engines went into series production. When you consider how long developments take today - despite massive computer assistance - you can only take your hat off in amazement at the aircraft builders of the time without these aids - using only computing sticks!
Technical data of the M 18:
Crew 1, passengers 4, length 8.00 m, wingspan 15.70 m, height 2.50 m, wing area 24.80 m² , empty mass 650 kg, max. take-off mass 1200 kg, V/cruise 140 km/h at 2000 m altitude, service altitude 2700 m, range 435 km.
Engine: 1 x 9-cyl. Siemens & Halske Sh 12 with 74 kW/100 hp
The model
It comes from a small series manufacturer and is made of resin-like plastic (which should still cause concern!). The accuracy of fit is very good, the transparent windscreen was bent, but could be remoulded in hot water. The surprise came later: a few imperfections had to be repaired on the upper fuselage above the cabin. I used the well-known Revell modelling filler for this. When it was ‘dry’, the surprise came to light: a wobbly mass of a good 1 cm diameter had formed. This had to be generously removed. I then filled it up with the quick 2-component adhesive from Uhu, and after sanding it down, it was safe to use car nitro filler.
The decals are precise but highly sensitive and should only ‘soak’ very briefly. The result is a model of a rare bird that fits in well in the museum with the M 20 and Fw A 16 as typical representatives of the 1920s.
The model under construction - on the left the imperfection after the repair of the Revell filler damage.
And so this machine, together with its successor the M 20 and the Fw A 16 and Dornier metal aeroplanes, will bear witness to the technology of the time in the 1/72 model collection.
You can contact the author of the Model of the Month series here: Author-MdM