Messerschmitt M 23

The Messerschmitt M 23, also called the BFW M.23, was a two-seat sporting aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and produced by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, developed in response to a 1929 German Aero Club specification for the Ostpreussenflug competition. It was an improved two-seat version of the M.19, a small conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with folding wings, a fixed undercarriage and a wide range of engines from the 28 kW ABC Scorpion to the 112 kW Siemens Sh 14a radial. Three production variants followed, the M.23a, M.23b and M.23c. The M.23b won the 1929 Ostpreussenflug and the Circuit of Europe, and the M.23c won the Circuit of Europe again the following year. Seventy-four appear on the German civil register, and buyers included Ernst Udet and Rudolf Hess. Fourteen more were built in Romania by ICAR under licence.