Compact 16-dimensional projective planes with large collineation groups. III (Q796826)

[Part II, cf. Monat. Math. 95, 311-319 (1983; Zbl 0507.51009]. Let \({\mathcal P}\) be a topological projective plane whose point space is compact and has (covering) dimension 16. Denote by aut \({\mathcal P}\) the group of all continuous collineations, given the compact-open topology. Theorem: If \(\dim\;aut{\mathcal P}\geq 40\), then \({\mathcal P}\) is the classical Moufang plane over the real octonion algebra, or the fixed element configuration of aut \({\mathcal P}\) is a flag (incident point-line pair).