I recall seeing a statement somewhere that the BMW 801 was basically a developed version of the BMW 139, one change being the inclusion of a two speed supercharger. This makes sense - for a host of practical reasons, it was very common for engines to be developed in an iterative fashion (Merlin, DB 600/601/605, Jupiter/Pegasus, M-34/AM-35/AM-37/AM-38 ...,). Also, the Germans would have been aware of the R-2600 and this would have given them some confidence that a high power 14 cylinder radial engine was a viable technical proposition. Note that, on top of the issues involved in cooling two rows of cylinders, 18 cylinder engines present special problems because of complex vibrational modes - considerable work was needed to bring the R-2800, the first really successful 18 cylinder engine, to a developed state. Most early 18 cylinder engines, such as the Fiat A.80, were hardly more powerful than established 9 cylinder engines and had various problems. Aside from this, if the BMW 139 was a double BMW 132, it would have had a diameter about 3 inches larger than that of the BMW 801; such a difference does not seem to be noticeable in photographs/drawings of aircraft fitted with these engines.