Messerschmitt
Encyclopedia
Messerschmitt AG (ˈmɛsɐʃmɪt) was a famous German
aircraft
manufacturing corporation (AG
) named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt
, and known primarily for its World War II
fighter aircraft
, notably the Bf 109
and Me 262
. The company survived in the post-war era, undergoing a number of mergers and changing its name from Messerschmitt to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
before being bought by DASA in 1989, now part of EADS
.
, starting a new company Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG. The articles of association were drawn up on February 19 and 20, and completed on March 2, 1916. Details of the company were recorded in the Commercial Register with an equity capital of RM 1,000,000 on March 7, 1916. 36% of the capital was provided by the Bank für Handel und Industrie, Berlin, 30% by MAN AG and 34% by Hermann Bachstein, Berlin. The first Chairman of the Board of Management was Peter Eberwein, who had previously been employed at Albatros Flugzeugwerke
.
Due to the need for immediate aircraft production for the ongoing war, there was no time for development work and BFW manufactured aircraft under license from the Albatros Flugzeugwerke
. Within a month of being set up the company was able to supply aircraft to the war ministries of Prussia
and Bavaria
. However, major quality problems were encountered at the start. The German air crews frequently complained about the serious defects that appeared in the first machines from BFW. The same thing had happened with the aircraft from the predecessor company run by Gustav Otto. It was only organizational changes and more intensive supervision of the assembly line that succeeded in resolving these problems by the end of 1916. BFW then started turning out over 200 aircraft a month, with their workforce growing to 3,000 and becoming one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in Bavaria.
The end of the war hit BFW hard, since military demand for aircraft collapsed. The company’s management were forced to look for new products with which to maintain their position in the market. Since WWI aircraft were largely built from wood to keep their weight down, BFW was equipped with the very latest joinery plant. What is more, the company still held stocks of materials sufficient for about 200 aircraft, and worth 4.7 million reichsmarks. It therefore seemed a good idea to use both the machinery and the materials for the production of furniture and fitted kitchens. 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 the Austrian financier Camillo Castiglioni
first announced his interest in purchasing BFW. While most of the shareholders accepted his offer, MAN AG initially held on to its shareholding in BFW. But Castiglioni wanted to acquire all the shares. He was supported in this by BMW’s Managing Director Franz Josef Popp who, in a letter to the chairman of MAN, described BFW as a “dead factory, which possesses no plant worth mentioning, and consists very largely of dilapidated and unsuitable wooden sheds situated in a town that is extremely unfavorable for industrial activities and whose status continues to give little cause for enthusiasm”. Apparently Popp was still in close contact with Castiglioni and was perhaps even privy to the latter’s plans for merging BMW with BFW. It was probably in the spring of 1922 that Castiglioni and Popp persuaded MAN to give up its shares in BFW, so that now the company belonged exclusively to Castiglioni. Then in May of the same year, when the Italian-born investor was able to acquire BMW’s engine business from Knorr-Bremse AG, nothing more stood in the way of a merger between the aircraft company BFW and the engine builders BMW.
, Bavaria
when Udet-Flugzeugbau GmbH was changed into a joint-stock company. In the early stages, BMW AG held a stake in this company and was represented by Josef Popp, who held a place on the Supervisory Board.
Willy Messerschmitt
joined the company in 1927 as chief designer and engineer, and formed a design team.
One of the first designs, the Messerschmitt M20
, was a near-catastrophe for the designer and the company. Many of the prototypes crashed, one of them killing Hans Hackmack , a close friend of Erhard Milch
, the head of Deutsche Luft Hansa
and the German civil aviation authorities. Milch was upset by the lack of response from Messerschmitt and this led to a lifelong hatred towards him. Milch eventually cancelled all contracts with Messerschmitt and forced BFW into bankruptcy in 1931. However, the German re-armament programs and Messerschmitt's friendship with Hugo Junkers
prevented a stagnation of the careers of him and BFW, which was started again in 1933. Milch still prevented Messerschmitt's takeover of the BFW until 1938, hence the designation "Bf" of early Messerschmitt designs.
Messerschmitt promoted a concept he called "light weight construction" in which many typically separate load-bearing parts were merged into a single reinforced firewall, thereby saving weight and improving performance. The first true test of the concept was in the Bf 108
Taifun sports-plane, which would soon be setting all sorts of records. Based on this performance the company was invited to submit a design for the Luftwaffe
's 1935 fighter contest, winning it with the Bf 109
, based on the same construction methods.
From this point on Messerschmitt became a favorite of the Nazi
party, as much for his designs as his political abilities and the factory location in southern Germany away from the "clumping" of aviation firms on the northern coast. BFW was reconstituted as Messerschmitt AG on July 11, 1938, with Willy Messerschmitt as chairman and managing director. The renaming of BFW resulted in the company's RLM
designation changing from Bf to Me for all newer designs that were accepted by the RLM after the acquisition date. Existing types, such as the Bf 109 and 110, retained their earlier designation in official documents, although sometimes the newer designations were used (in error) as well, most often by subcontractors, such as Erla Flugzeugwerke of Leipzig
. In practise, all BFW/Messerschmitt aircraft from the Bf 108 four-seat touring monoplane, to the Bf 163 light observation aircraft (not the same plane as the later Me 163 rocket fighter) were prefixed Bf, all later types with Me.
and Bf 110
forming the vast majority of fighter strength for the first half of the war. Several other designs were also ordered, including the enormous Me 321
Gigant transport glider, and its six-engined follow on, the Me 323
. However for the second half of the war, Messerschmitt turned almost entirely to jet
-powered designs, producing the world's first operational jet fighter, the Me 262
Schwalbe (“Swallow”). They also produced the DFS
-designed Me 163
Komet, the first rocket
-powered design to enter service. Messerschmitt relied heavily on slave labor to produce much of the parts needed for these planes during the second half of World War II; these parts were assembled in an enormous underground tunnel system in Sankt Georgen an der Gusen
, Austria
. Slave labor was provided by inmates of the brutal Gusen
I and Gusen II camps, and by inmates from Mauthausen
concentration camp, all located near the St. Gorgen quarries. 40,000 inmates from Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Hungarian Jews and twenty other nationalities were murdered during the production of these planes at St. Gorgen. Messerschmitt officials maintained barracks at the concentration camp to oversee the work being done by the inmates.
Messerschmitt had its share of poor designs as well; the Me 210
, designed as a follow-on to the 110, was a disaster that almost led to the forced dissolution of the company. The design problems were eventually addressed in the Me 410
Hornisse, but only small numbers were built before all attention turned to the 262. Late in the war, Messerschmitt also worked on a heavy Amerikabomber design, the Me 264
, which flew in prototype form but was too late to see combat.
, the company was not allowed to produce aircraft. One alternative the company came up with was the three wheeled motorcycle
/bubble car
or Kabinenroller (cabinscooter) KR175
/ KR200
, which was designed by an aircraft engineer Fritz Fend
.
The cars were actually made by Fend's own company in the Messerschmitt works at Regensburg and Willy Messerschmitt
had very little to do with the vehicles other than ruling that they carried his name. Production of the KR200 ceased in 1964.
Less known is the fact that the Messerschmitt factory also produced prefabricated houses, which were designed as "self-building-kits" mainly based on an alloy frame work.
, becoming Messerschmitt-Bölkow. The following May, the firm acquired Hamburger Flugzeugbau
(HFB), the aviation division of Blohm + Voss
. The company then changed its name to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
(MBB). In 1989 MBB was taken over by Deutsche Aerospace AG (DASA), which was renamed Daimler-Benz Aerospace in 1995. The former DASA now operates as "EADS Germany".
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
manufacturing corporation (AG
Aktiengesellschaft
Aktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland...
) named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt
Willy Messerschmitt
Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of a wine merchant...
, and known primarily for its World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
, notably the Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
and Me 262
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
. The company survived in the post-war era, undergoing a number of mergers and changing its name from Messerschmitt to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm was a German aerospace company formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter...
before being bought by DASA in 1989, now part of EADS
EADS
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...
.
Background
In February 1916 the south German engineering company MAN AG and several banks purchased the unprofitable aircraft builder Otto-FlugzeugwerkeOtto-Flugzeugwerke
Gustav Otto Flugzeugwerke, founded in 1910 by Gustav Otto, was one of the pioneering aircraft producers at the turn of the 20th Century. It was merged into BFW, the company that eventually became BMW AG....
, starting a new company Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG. The articles of association were drawn up on February 19 and 20, and completed on March 2, 1916. Details of the company were recorded in the Commercial Register with an equity capital of RM 1,000,000 on March 7, 1916. 36% of the capital was provided by the Bank für Handel und Industrie, Berlin, 30% by MAN AG and 34% by Hermann Bachstein, Berlin. The first Chairman of the Board of Management was Peter Eberwein, who had previously been employed at Albatros Flugzeugwerke
Albatros Flugzeugwerke
Albatros-Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German airforces during World War I.The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1909. It produced some of the most capable fighter aircraft...
.
Due to the need for immediate aircraft production for the ongoing war, there was no time for development work and BFW manufactured aircraft under license from the Albatros Flugzeugwerke
Albatros Flugzeugwerke
Albatros-Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German airforces during World War I.The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1909. It produced some of the most capable fighter aircraft...
. Within a month of being set up the company was able to supply aircraft to the war ministries of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. However, major quality problems were encountered at the start. The German air crews frequently complained about the serious defects that appeared in the first machines from BFW. The same thing had happened with the aircraft from the predecessor company run by Gustav Otto. It was only organizational changes and more intensive supervision of the assembly line that succeeded in resolving these problems by the end of 1916. BFW then started turning out over 200 aircraft a month, with their workforce growing to 3,000 and becoming one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in Bavaria.
The end of the war hit BFW hard, since military demand for aircraft collapsed. The company’s management were forced to look for new products with which to maintain their position in the market. Since WWI aircraft were largely built from wood to keep their weight down, BFW was equipped with the very latest joinery plant. What is more, the company still held stocks of materials sufficient for about 200 aircraft, and worth 4.7 million reichsmarks. It therefore seemed a good idea to use both the machinery and the materials for the production of furniture and fitted kitchens. In addition, from 1921 onwards, the company manufactured motorcycles of its own design under the names of Flink
Flink
Flink , is a 2D scrolling platform game developed by Psygnosis.-Summary:...
and Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
.
In the autumn of 1921 the Austrian financier Camillo Castiglioni
Camillo Castiglioni
Camillo Castiglioni was an Italian-Austrian financier and banker, and was the wealthiest man in Central Europe during World War I. Nicknamed “Austrian Stinnes”, he was active in aviation's pioneering days and invested in the arts.-Early life:Castiglioni was born in Trieste, then Austria–Hungary...
first announced his interest in purchasing BFW. While most of the shareholders accepted his offer, MAN AG initially held on to its shareholding in BFW. But Castiglioni wanted to acquire all the shares. He was supported in this by BMW’s Managing Director Franz Josef Popp who, in a letter to the chairman of MAN, described BFW as a “dead factory, which possesses no plant worth mentioning, and consists very largely of dilapidated and unsuitable wooden sheds situated in a town that is extremely unfavorable for industrial activities and whose status continues to give little cause for enthusiasm”. Apparently Popp was still in close contact with Castiglioni and was perhaps even privy to the latter’s plans for merging BMW with BFW. It was probably in the spring of 1922 that Castiglioni and Popp persuaded MAN to give up its shares in BFW, so that now the company belonged exclusively to Castiglioni. Then in May of the same year, when the Italian-born investor was able to acquire BMW’s engine business from Knorr-Bremse AG, nothing more stood in the way of a merger between the aircraft company BFW and the engine builders BMW.
Reincarnation
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) (Bavarian Aircraft Works) was reformed in 1926 in AugsburgAugsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
when Udet-Flugzeugbau GmbH was changed into a joint-stock company. In the early stages, BMW AG held a stake in this company and was represented by Josef Popp, who held a place on the Supervisory Board.
Willy Messerschmitt
Willy Messerschmitt
Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of a wine merchant...
joined the company in 1927 as chief designer and engineer, and formed a design team.
One of the first designs, the Messerschmitt M20
Messerschmitt M20
|-The Messerschmitt-Milch relationship:Hans Hackmack, who died in the first flight of the M 20, was a close friend of Erhard Milch, the head of Luft Hansa and the German civil aviation authorities. Milch was upset by the lack of response from Messerschmitt and this led to a lifelong hatred towards...
, was a near-catastrophe for the designer and the company. Many of the prototypes crashed, one of them killing Hans Hackmack , a close friend of Erhard Milch
Erhard Milch
Erhard Milch was a German Field Marshal who oversaw the development of the Luftwaffe as part of the re-armament of Germany following World War I, and served as founding Director of Deutsche Luft Hansa...
, the head of Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...
and the German civil aviation authorities. Milch was upset by the lack of response from Messerschmitt and this led to a lifelong hatred towards him. Milch eventually cancelled all contracts with Messerschmitt and forced BFW into bankruptcy in 1931. However, the German re-armament programs and Messerschmitt's friendship with Hugo Junkers
Hugo Junkers
Hugo Junkers was an innovative German engineer, as his many patents in varied areas show...
prevented a stagnation of the careers of him and BFW, which was started again in 1933. Milch still prevented Messerschmitt's takeover of the BFW until 1938, hence the designation "Bf" of early Messerschmitt designs.
Messerschmitt promoted a concept he called "light weight construction" in which many typically separate load-bearing parts were merged into a single reinforced firewall, thereby saving weight and improving performance. The first true test of the concept was in the Bf 108
Messerschmitt Bf 108
-Popular culture:Bf 108s and postwar Nord 1000s, played the role of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters in war movies, including The Longest Day, 633 Squadron, Von Ryan's Express and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-See also:-References:Notes...
Taifun sports-plane, which would soon be setting all sorts of records. Based on this performance the company was invited to submit a design for the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
's 1935 fighter contest, winning it with the Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
, based on the same construction methods.
From this point on Messerschmitt became a favorite of the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
party, as much for his designs as his political abilities and the factory location in southern Germany away from the "clumping" of aviation firms on the northern coast. BFW was reconstituted as Messerschmitt AG on July 11, 1938, with Willy Messerschmitt as chairman and managing director. The renaming of BFW resulted in the company's RLM
RLM aircraft designation system
The German Air Ministry had a system for aircraft designation which was an attempt by the aviation bureaucracy of the Third Reich to standardize and produce an identifier for each aircraft type produced in Germany...
designation changing from Bf to Me for all newer designs that were accepted by the RLM after the acquisition date. Existing types, such as the Bf 109 and 110, retained their earlier designation in official documents, although sometimes the newer designations were used (in error) as well, most often by subcontractors, such as Erla Flugzeugwerke of Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. In practise, all BFW/Messerschmitt aircraft from the Bf 108 four-seat touring monoplane, to the Bf 163 light observation aircraft (not the same plane as the later Me 163 rocket fighter) were prefixed Bf, all later types with Me.
World War II
During the war Messerschmitt became a major design supplier, their Bf 109Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
and Bf 110
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten...
forming the vast majority of fighter strength for the first half of the war. Several other designs were also ordered, including the enormous Me 321
Messerschmitt Me 321
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Dabrowski, Hans-Peter. Messerschmitt Me 321/323: The Luftwaffe's "Giants" in World War II. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001. ISBN 0-7643-1442-4....
Gigant transport glider, and its six-engined follow on, the Me 323
Messerschmitt Me 323
The Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant was a German military transport aircraft of World War II. It was a powered variant of the Me 321 military glider and was the largest land-based transport aircraft of the war...
. However for the second half of the war, Messerschmitt turned almost entirely to jet
Jet engine
A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
-powered designs, producing the world's first operational jet fighter, the Me 262
Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
Schwalbe (“Swallow”). They also produced the DFS
Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug
The Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug, or DFS was formed in 1933 to centralise all gliding activity in Germany...
-designed Me 163
Messerschmitt Me 163
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket-powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational. Its design was revolutionary, and the Me 163 was capable of performance unrivaled at the time. Messerschmitt...
Komet, the first rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
-powered design to enter service. Messerschmitt relied heavily on slave labor to produce much of the parts needed for these planes during the second half of World War II; these parts were assembled in an enormous underground tunnel system in Sankt Georgen an der Gusen
Sankt Georgen an der Gusen
Sankt Georgen an der Gusen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria, between the municipalities of Luftenberg and Langenstein...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Slave labor was provided by inmates of the brutal Gusen
Gusen
Gusen is the name of the biggest and most brutal Nazi concentration camp complex on Austrian territory. Originally called "Mauthausen II", the camp consisted of three camps and toward the end of the war, was annexed to Mauthausen concentration camp...
I and Gusen II camps, and by inmates from Mauthausen
Mauthausen
Mauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
concentration camp, all located near the St. Gorgen quarries. 40,000 inmates from Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Hungarian Jews and twenty other nationalities were murdered during the production of these planes at St. Gorgen. Messerschmitt officials maintained barracks at the concentration camp to oversee the work being done by the inmates.
Messerschmitt had its share of poor designs as well; the Me 210
Messerschmitt Me 210
The Messerschmitt Me 210 was a German heavy fighter and ground-attack aircraft of World War II. The Me 210 was designed to replace the Bf 110 in heavy fighter role; design started before the opening of World War II. The first examples of the Me 210 were ready in 1939, but they proved to have poor...
, designed as a follow-on to the 110, was a disaster that almost led to the forced dissolution of the company. The design problems were eventually addressed in the Me 410
Messerschmitt Me 410
The Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse was a German heavy fighter and Schnellbomber used by Luftwaffe during World War II. Though essentially a straightforward modification of the Me 210, it was designated the Me 410 to avoid association with its notoriously flawed predecessor.-Design and...
Hornisse, but only small numbers were built before all attention turned to the 262. Late in the war, Messerschmitt also worked on a heavy Amerikabomber design, the Me 264
Messerschmitt Me 264
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Duffy, James P. Target: America. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-275-96684-4....
, which flew in prototype form but was too late to see combat.
Post-war
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the company was not allowed to produce aircraft. One alternative the company came up with was the three wheeled motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
/bubble car
Bubble car
Bubble car is a subjective term used for some small, economical automobiles, usually produced in the 1950s and 1960s.- Varieties :The Messerschmitt KR175 and KR200, and the FMR Tg500, had aircraft-style bubble canopies, giving rise to the term bubble car to refer to all these post-war microcars...
or Kabinenroller (cabinscooter) KR175
Messerschmitt KR175
The Messerschmitt KR175 bubble car was the first vehicle built by Messerschmitt under its 1952 agreement with Fritz Fend. In concept, although not in actual design, it was an extended version of the Fend Flitzer invalid carriage...
/ KR200
Messerschmitt KR200
The Messerschmitt KR200, or Kabinenroller , was a three-wheeled bubble car designed by the aircraft engineer Fritz Fend and produced in the factory of the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt from 1955 to 1964.-History:...
, which was designed by an aircraft engineer Fritz Fend
Fritz Fend
Fritz Fend : was an aeronautical engineer. He worked for Messerschmitt and designed the famous Kabinenroller KR175 / KR200.Fend was a technical officer with the Luftwaffe during World War II....
.
The cars were actually made by Fend's own company in the Messerschmitt works at Regensburg and Willy Messerschmitt
Willy Messerschmitt
Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of a wine merchant...
had very little to do with the vehicles other than ruling that they carried his name. Production of the KR200 ceased in 1964.
Less known is the fact that the Messerschmitt factory also produced prefabricated houses, which were designed as "self-building-kits" mainly based on an alloy frame work.
Return to aviation
On 6 June 1968, Messerschmitt AG merged with the small civil engineering and civil aviation firm BölkowBölkow
Bölkow was a German aircraft manufacturer based in Stuttgart, Germany, and later Ottobrunn.-History:The company was founded in 1948 by Ludwig Bölkow, who since 1955 with Emil Weiland had developed helicopters for Bölkow Entwicklungen KG....
, becoming Messerschmitt-Bölkow. The following May, the firm acquired Hamburger Flugzeugbau
Hamburger Flugzeugbau
Hamburger Flugzeugbau was an aircraft company, located in the Finkenwerder quarter of Hamburg, Germany. Originally established in July 1933 as a subsidiary of the Blohm & Voss shipyards, it has managed to survive under different names as part of different consortia from its German national...
(HFB), the aviation division of Blohm + Voss
Blohm + Voss
Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a...
. The company then changed its name to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm was a German aerospace company formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter...
(MBB). In 1989 MBB was taken over by Deutsche Aerospace AG (DASA), which was renamed Daimler-Benz Aerospace in 1995. The former DASA now operates as "EADS Germany".
Aircraft
| Model | Name | First flight | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| M17 Messerschmitt M17 -See also:-External links:* - photos and drawings... |
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| M18 | |||
| M20 Messerschmitt M20 |-The Messerschmitt-Milch relationship:Hans Hackmack, who died in the first flight of the M 20, was a close friend of Erhard Milch, the head of Luft Hansa and the German civil aviation authorities. Milch was upset by the lack of response from Messerschmitt and this led to a lifelong hatred towards... |
1928 1928 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1928:- Events :* The Soviet Unions First Five-Year Plan begins, placing a high priority on the construction of new aircraft factories... |
passenger transport | |
| Bf 108 Messerschmitt Bf 108 -Popular culture:Bf 108s and postwar Nord 1000s, played the role of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters in war movies, including The Longest Day, 633 Squadron, Von Ryan's Express and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-See also:-References:Notes... |
Taifun (Typhoon) | 1934 1934 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1934:-Events:* Sir Alan Cobhams Flight Refuelling Ltd. develops the looped-hose aerial refueling system, a weighted cable let out of a tanker aircraft and grabbed by a grapnel fired from the receiving aircraft... |
trainer & transport |
| Bf 109 Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s... |
September, 1935 1935 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1935:- Events :* Employing aerial refueling, a sustained flight record of 653 hours 33 minutes is set... |
fighter, bomber interceptor; later versions sometimes mistakenly marked as "Me 109" on subcontractor's dataplates | |
| Bf 110 Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten... |
12 May, 1936 1936 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1936:- Events :* The Royal Air Forces first monoplane bomber, the Avro Anson, enters service.*The German Luftwaffe begins experiments with helle Nachtjagd techniques, the operation of night fighters with the aid of searchlights.*The Soviet aviator... |
twin-engine heavy fighter, night fighter | |
| Me 155 | not built | high-altitude fighter, developed from Bf 109; not built, project transferred to Blohm + Voss Blohm + Voss Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a... as the Bv 155 |
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| Bf 161 Messerschmitt Bf 161 -See also:-External links:*... |
heavy fighter; prototype | ||
| Bf 162 Messerschmitt Bf 162 |-See also:-References:* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York:Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 0-385-05782-2.... |
Jaguar | 1937 1937 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1937:- Events :* The Hawker Hurricane enters service as the Royal Air Forces first monoplane fighter.... |
schnellbomber (fast bomber) based on Bf 110 |
| Bf 163 Messerschmitt Bf 163 |- Sources :* Green, William Warplanes of the Third Reich. Galahad Books, 1986.-See also:... |
STOL reconnaissance aircraft; prototype built by Weserflug AG, lost military contact to Fieseler Fi 156 Fieseler Fi 156 The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was a small German liaison aircraft built by Fieseler before and during World War II, and production continued in other countries into the 1950s for the private market... Storch |
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| Me 163 Messerschmitt Me 163 The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket-powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational. Its design was revolutionary, and the Me 163 was capable of performance unrivaled at the time. Messerschmitt... |
Komet (Comet) | early 1941 1941 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1941:- Events :* Jackie Cochran became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.* During the spring and summer, the Imperial Japanese Navys air arm conducts Operation 102, its second major bombing campaign against Chungking.* By early... |
rocket-powered interceptor |
| Me 209 Messerschmitt Me 209 |-See also:-Bibliography:* Feist, Uwe. The Fighting Me 109. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1993. ISBN 1-85409-209-X.* Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, vol. I. London: Hanover House, 1960.... |
1 August, 1938 1938 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938:- Events :* Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. Pan American World Airways is banned from British airports out of fears that more advanced U.S... |
designed to break world air speed record; attempted fighter conversion failed | |
| Me 209-II Messerschmitt Me 209-II |-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, vol. I. London: Hanover House, 1960.... |
1943 1943 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:-Events:* Watanabe Iron Works transfers its aircraft manufacturing business to a new subsidiary, the Kyushu Airplane Company Ltd.-January:... |
fighter; update to Bf 109, never produced | |
| Me 210 Messerschmitt Me 210 The Messerschmitt Me 210 was a German heavy fighter and ground-attack aircraft of World War II. The Me 210 was designed to replace the Bf 110 in heavy fighter role; design started before the opening of World War II. The first examples of the Me 210 were ready in 1939, but they proved to have poor... |
September, 1939 1939 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939:-Events:* Kawasaki Heavy Industries transfers its aircraft engine production business to its subsidiary, the Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company Ltd.... |
twin-engine heavy fighter; also used for reconnaissance | |
| Me 261 Messerschmitt Me 261 -References:NotesBibliography* Donald, David, ed. Warplanes of the Luftwaffe. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1994. ISBN 1-874023-56-5.* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York: Galahad Books, 1986. ISBN 0-88365-666-3... |
Adolfine | 1941 1941 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1941:- Events :* Jackie Cochran became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.* During the spring and summer, the Imperial Japanese Navys air arm conducts Operation 102, its second major bombing campaign against Chungking.* By early... |
designed as long-range record-setter; three built and used for reconnaissance |
| Me 262 Messerschmitt Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944... |
Schwalbe (Swallow) | 18 July, 1942 1942 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942:- Events :* The United States Coast Guard begins to use the national insignia for U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft on its own aircraft for the first time. The practice has continued ever since.-January:* The U.S... |
twin-engine fighter & attack aircraft; first operational jet-powered fighter |
| Me 263 Messerschmitt Me 263 -See also:http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/me-263.php-References:* David Myhra, "Messerschmitt Me 263", Schiffer Publishing, 1999... |
never flown | rocket-powered interceptor; advanced development of Me 163 | |
| Me 264 Messerschmitt Me 264 |-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Duffy, James P. Target: America. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-275-96684-4.... |
Amerika (America) | 23 December, 1942 1942 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942:- Events :* The United States Coast Guard begins to use the national insignia for U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft on its own aircraft for the first time. The practice has continued ever since.-January:* The U.S... |
strategic bomber, developed under Amerika Bomber Amerika Bomber The Amerika-Bomber project was an initiative of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the Nazi Germany Air Ministry, to obtain a long-range strategic bomber for the Luftwaffe that would be capable of striking the continental United States from Germany, a range of about 5,800 km... program |
| Me 265 Messerschmitt Me 265 The Messerschmitt Me 265 was a design project for a Zerstorer produced by leading German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt in World War II.-Design:The Me 265 was designed in 1942, and intended to replace the failing Me 210... |
not built | attack aircraft, proposed | |
| Me 309 Messerschmitt Me 309 |-References:*Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, vol. I. London: Hanover House, 1960.*Jackson, Robert. Infamous Aircraft: Dangerous Designs and their Vices. Barnsley, Yorkshire, UK: Pen and Sword Aviation, 2005. ISBN 1-84415-172-7.-External links:*... |
July, 1942 1942 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942:- Events :* The United States Coast Guard begins to use the national insignia for U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft on its own aircraft for the first time. The practice has continued ever since.-January:* The U.S... |
fighter; advanced but underperforming design meant to replace Me 109 | |
| Me 310 | 1 built | pressurized Me 210 development, proposed | |
| Me 321 Messerschmitt Me 321 |-See also:-Bibliography:* Dabrowski, Hans-Peter. Messerschmitt Me 321/323: The Luftwaffe's "Giants" in World War II. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001. ISBN 0-7643-1442-4.... |
7 March, 1941 1941 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1941:- Events :* Jackie Cochran became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.* During the spring and summer, the Imperial Japanese Navys air arm conducts Operation 102, its second major bombing campaign against Chungking.* By early... |
large transport glider | |
| Me 323 Messerschmitt Me 323 The Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant was a German military transport aircraft of World War II. It was a powered variant of the Me 321 military glider and was the largest land-based transport aircraft of the war... |
Gigant (Giant) | Fall, 1941 1941 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1941:- Events :* Jackie Cochran became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.* During the spring and summer, the Imperial Japanese Navys air arm conducts Operation 102, its second major bombing campaign against Chungking.* By early... |
large transport aircraft; powered development of Me 321 |
| Me 328 Messerschmitt Me 328 The Messerschmitt Me 328 was originally designed as a parasite aircraft to protect Luftwaffe bomber formations during World War II. During its protracted development, a wide variety of other roles were suggested for it... |
Fall, 1943 1943 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:-Events:* Watanabe Iron Works transfers its aircraft manufacturing business to a new subsidiary, the Kyushu Airplane Company Ltd.-January:... |
pulsejet-powered selbstopfer Selbstopfer The Fieseler Fi 103R was a late-World War II German manned version of the V-1 flying bomb produced for missions which were to be carried out by the "Leonidas Squadron", Group V of the Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwader 200.-Background:The Leonidas Squadron, part of KG 200, had been set up as a suicide... or parasite fighter |
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| Me 329 Messerschmitt Me 329 |-See also:-References:*Luftwaffe Secret Projects - Ground Attack & Special Purpose Aircraft, D. Herwig & H. Rode, ISBN 1-85780-150-4*... |
heavy fighter-bomber; unpowered glider only | ||
| Me 334 | tailless fighter, similar to Me 163 (development abandoned) | ||
| Me 409 | Zwilling (Twin) | heavy fighter; combined two Me 209 fuselages into one airframe, similar to the Bf 109Z and Heinkel He 111 Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium... Z (development abandoned) |
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| Me 410 Messerschmitt Me 410 The Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse was a German heavy fighter and Schnellbomber used by Luftwaffe during World War II. Though essentially a straightforward modification of the Me 210, it was designated the Me 410 to avoid association with its notoriously flawed predecessor.-Design and... |
Hornisse (Hornet) | 1943 1943 in aviation This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:-Events:* Watanabe Iron Works transfers its aircraft manufacturing business to a new subsidiary, the Kyushu Airplane Company Ltd.-January:... |
twin-engine heavy fighter and fast bomber; development of Me 210 |
| Me 509 | not built | fighter, based on Me 309, with engine located behind cockpit as in P-39 Airacobra | |
| Me 510 | not built | twin-engine fighter-bomber; Me 410 derivative | |
| Me 600 | Bussard (Buzzard) | rare, provisional designation for Arthur Sack A.S.7V-1 | |
| Me 609 | heavy fighter; combined two Me 309 fuselages into one airframe, as with Bf 109Z and Me 409 (development abandoned) | ||
| P.08-01 | not flown | 1939 long-range pusher bomber design | |
| P.1101 | not flown | prototype swing-wing Swing-wing A variable-sweep wing is an aeroplane wing that may be swept back and then returned to its original position during flight. It allows the aircraft's planform to be modified in flight, and is therefore an example of a variable-geometry aircraft.... jet interceptor; later inspired Bell X-5 Bell X-5 -See also:-Bibliography:* Hallion, Richard P. On The Frontier: Flight Research At Dryden 1946-1981 . Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1984 . ISBN 1-58834-134-8.... |
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