Gustav Otto
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Gustav Otto (January 12, 1883 – February 28, 1926) was a German aircraft and aircraft-engine designer and manufacturer.
Otto was born in Cologne to Nikolaus August Otto, the founder of N. A. Otto & Cie.. Gustav's interest in engines and the manufacture thereof was something he inherited from his father. In 1909 Otto expanded his interest to not just powering aeroplanes, but manufacturing them as well, and founded the Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik (aircraft factory) in Munich.
Image:A 1913 Otto B-type.jpg Shortly thereafter, Otto established a company named AGO Flugzeugwerke at Berlin's Johannisthal Air Field to be closer to the German government's procurement process. The initials AGO stood for either Actien-Gesellschaft Otto or Aerowerke Gustav Otto – there seems to be some ambiguity – but the company mostly license-built Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik designs, as did Pfalz Flugzeugwerke during the early years of World War I.
In 1916 Otto acquired Rapp Motorenwerke AG from Karl Rapp and renamed the two merged companies Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW). From this entity eventually emerged Bayerische Motorenwerke GmbH, the modern car and motorcycle manufacturer better known today as BMW.
Otto died in Munich in 1926.
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