Messerschmitt
5 types · 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
The articles of association were drawn up on 19 and 20 February, and completed on 2 March 1916. Details of the company were recorded in the Commercial Register with an equity capital of RM 1,000,000 on 7 March 1916. It was only organizational changes and more intensive supervision of the assembly line that succeeded in resolving these problems by the end of 1916. Since World War I aircraft were largely built from wood to keep their weight down, BFW was equipped with the very latest joinery plant. In addition, from 1921 onwards, the company manufactured motorcycles of its own design under the names of Flink and Helios. In the autumn of 1921, Austrian financier Camillo Castiglioni first announced his interest in purchasing BFW.
Aircraft Types
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Bf 109 was the Luftwaffe's standard day fighter of the Second World War. First flown in 1935, it was built in larger numbers than any other fighter aircraft, developed through a decade of engine and armament changes, and remained in production until 1945. Licence-built versions in Czechoslovakia and Spain kept the design in service into the 1960s.
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110 was a German twin-engined heavy fighter of the Second World War, conceived as a Zerstörer: a long-range destroyer meant to escort bombers and clear their path. It entered service in 1939 and did well in the early campaigns, but over Britain in 1940 it could not match the RAF's single-seat fighters and suffered heavily as a daylight escort. Fitted with radar, it found a second career as a night fighter and became the backbone of Germany's night defences. More than 6,000 were built, production lasting until March 1945, and the type outlived the aircraft designed to replace it.
Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet was a German rocket-powered interceptor of the Second World War, designed by Alexander Lippisch's team at Messerschmitt. It was the first and only rocket-powered interceptor to see operational service: it climbed faster than any contemporary fighter, but its motor burned its fuel in minutes, its propellants were dangerously unstable, and it reached squadrons only in the war's final year, too late to affect the bombing campaign it was built to stop.
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Me 262 was a German twin-jet fighter and fighter-bomber, and the first jet fighter to enter operational service. Designed by Messerschmitt before the Second World War and first flown in 1941 on piston power, it became operational in mid-1944, faster and more heavily armed than any Allied fighter. It came too late to affect the war's outcome, but it opened the jet age in air combat.
Messerschmitt Me 264
The Messerschmitt Me 264 was a German four-engined bomber designed for transatlantic range: Messerschmitt's entry in the Amerikabomber programme, meant to strike New York City from French or Azores bases, and later developed instead as a long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft for the Kriegsmarine. Three prototypes were built; only the first flew, from 23 December 1942, and testing showed difficult handling. Development was cancelled in October 1943 and the project formally closed in September 1944; all three prototypes were destroyed or wrecked in bombing raids, and none survives.