History is an imprecise discipline, at best, and over time it is constantly revised. What is said today may not have represented what was said over various eras at the company.
There is no question that the company was completely preoccupied with aircraft engines in WWI and WWII, but, of course, today there are compelling geo-political reasons for today's BMW to distance itself from that era. Among other things, the BMW aircraft engines in WWII were built primarily with slave labor from the concentration camps. Of course, the U.S. Capitol Building was also built primarily with slave labor.
I could envision a BMW management 50 years from now going back to the explanation that it represents a "spinning propeller in the colors of Bavaria" to honor it's earliest roots.
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