The History of the Delco-Remy Divsion of General Motors
A.K.A. "The Remy Brothers" or "The Remy Electric Company"
1896-1994

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World War Two Product Documents
The Bosch Magneto Project
This page updated 11-19-2020.

There are three documents in this section.  The first, a four-page article, details how Delco-Remy became a licensed supplier of American Bosch aircraft magnetos for the Army Air Force during World War Two.  In July 1942, initial contact was made between the two companies that resulted in Delco-Remy building more than 295,000 magnetos for the war effort.  This document was the final document on the Bosch Magneto.

The second document is a rough draft of an event time-line described in the final draft.  It is Appendix A but has no final date.  The third document is the initial draft of the time-line.  It is seven pages compared to the four pages that was the final document.  One needs to read all three documents to get the full story on the Delco-Remy and the Bosch Magneto Project.

The documents in this section are courtesy of the Madison County Historical Society in Anderson, IN.


The Plant 10 final assembly line for Bosch aircraft magnetos.  From "Our War Job."

I have looked at a considerable number of aircraft engines in many aviation museums attempting to find an example of Delco-Remy Bosch type magneto.  I finally found two of them on a Sunday afternoon as I was visiting the Waco Museum in Troy, OH.  The engine was all the way in the back corner of the museum's second display building.  There were two 1943 Delco-Remy magnetos on a Pratt & Whitney 985 Wasp Junior engine. 


This is the Pratt & Whitney 985 Wasp Junior engine on display at the Waco Museum.  The engine was used on the BT-13 Valiant and OS2U Kingfisher during World War Two.  Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


Many display engines at museums do not have a complete set of accessories mounted on them.  Some have none, and just show the front of the engine.  In this case, both magnetos of Delco-Remy manufacture were on the engine, while the carburetor, generator, and starter were missing.  Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


This is Delco-Remy Part Number 1111451 and is Serial Number BB-5500.  It was built on 3-1-1943.  Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


The second magneto was rebuilt by Cooper Automotive, indicating the magneto was used on this engine after World War Two.  Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


The magneto is Serial Number BB-11837 and built on 6-19-1943.  This indicates that Delco-Remy Plant 10 built 6,337 of this model in just over 3.5 months.  It was one of five models being produced at the time by Delco-Remy.  Author's photo added 9-15-2020.


Chevrolet built the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 under license during World War Two and Delco-Remy supplied magnetos to Chevrolet for this type of engine.  Author's photo added 5-16-2020.


This cut-away of a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 is on display at the Tri-State Warbird Museum in Batavia, OH.  This could have been manufactured by either Pratt & Whitney or Chevrolet.  Author's photo added 11-19-2020.


The display has this cut-away of a Bosch-built magneto, which is the same type Delco-Remy supplied to Chevrolet under license for this type engine.  Author's photo added 11-19-2020.


Author's photo added 11-19-2020.


Author's photo added 11-19-2020.

The two tables below consolidate information given in the four-page paper below.

Scheduled Monthly Production ramp-up for Delco-Remy-built American Bosch Aircraft Magnetos
Date  Scheduled Monthly Production
May 1942 100
June 1942 500
July 1942 1,300
August 1942 1,700
September 1942 2,500
April 1943 15,000

 

Initial orders for Delco-Remy-built American Bosch Aircraft Magnetos - October 1942 to February 1943
Customer Order Date and Quantity Engine Type Aircraft Type
Chevrolet October 1942 - 11,600 magnetos
November 1942 - 10,200 magnetos
 February 1943 - 7,000 magnetos		 Pratt & Whitney R-1830; R-2800 C-47, C-53, B-24; P-47, P-61
Studebaker October 1942 - 12,000,
November 1942 - 6,000 
February 1943 - 25,000		 Wright R-1830 B-17
Jacobs October 1942-7,850 Jacobs R-755, R-915 AT-17, T-50, UC-78
American Bosch November 1942 - 30,000 parts
January 1943 - 90,000 parts		 Various Various

 

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The last sentence indicates that Delco-Remy was in the act of producing five different models of the magnetos for the war effort as of January 1943.

Appendix A
This has no final date in the title and is a draft with corrections.  The last date on the time-line is 2-2-1942.  This shows that the Bosch Magneto Project started on July 23, 1941, even before the United States became involved in the war. 

The rough draft of the final document
The project start date of July 23, 1941 does not appear in the final copy.  There is more information on meeting participants and magneto customer purchase order numbers.  It also shows the tooling costs involved with the project.  Also referenced is the 1% licensing fee that Delco-Remy paid American Bosch for each unit produced.  There was a difference of opinions between the two companies regarding which products were included.  This is the only rough draft document of the ten papers included on this website and is much more informative than the final paper.


In September 1941, a Delco-Remy-built American Bosch magneto was tested on a Chevrolet-built R-1830.  Author's photo.


The R-1830 powered the C-47 transport.  Author's photo.


It also powered the B-24 Liberator bomber.  Author's photo.


Chevrolet also produced the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine.  Author's photo.


Chevrolet-built R-2800 engines were used on the P-47.  This P-47 on display at the Peterson AFB Air and Space Museum in Colorado Springs, CO has a Chevrolet R-2800 engine in it.  Author's photo.


Delco-Remy-built magnetos were supplied to Chevrolet.  Many of the Chevrolet-built R-2800 engines with DR magnetos were then installed into the P-47s.  Author's photo.


Studebaker built Wright R-1820 engines for the famous B-17 bomber at its Chippewa Street plant on the south side of South Bend, IN.  Author's photo.


Author's photo.


This photo shows a cutaway of one of the two magnetos on the R-1820 engine.  Author's photo.


This is a Jacobs R-755 engine.  Author's photo.


Jacob engines were used in the Cessna AT-17, T-50 and, UC-78 aircraft.  This one is a T-50.  Author's photo.


 

 

 

 



This Website has no affiliation with General Motors, Delphi Holdings, Remy International, or Borg-Warner.  The content is to only present a historical perspective of the plants and products of the former Delco-Remy Division previous to 1994.  All content presented on this website is for general information only.   Website designed and maintained by David D Jackson.  
Contact:  David D Jackson