Messerschmitt Me 210
Encyclopedia
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 flight characteristics. A large-scale operational testing programme throughout 1941 and early 1942 did not cure the aircraft's problems. The design eventually entered limited service in 1943, but was almost immediately replaced by its successor, the Messerschmitt Me 410
Hornisse ("Hornet"). The Me 410 was a further development of the Me 210, renamed so as to avoid the 210's notoriety. The failure of the Me 210's development programme meant that the Luftwaffe
was forced to continue fielding the outdated Bf 110, to mounting losses.
started looking ahead for its eventual replacement. Messerschmitt sent in their modified Bf 110 design as the Me 210, and Arado
responded with their all-new Ar 240
.
The Me 210 was a straightforward cleanup of the 110, and used many of the same parts. The main differences were a modified nose area that was much shorter and located over the center of gravity
, and an all-new wing designed for higher cruise speeds. On paper, the Me 210's performance was impressive. It could reach 620 km/h (390 mph) on two 1,350 PS (1,330 hp, 990 kW) Daimler-Benz DB 601F
engines, making it about 80 km/h (50 mph) faster than the Bf 110, and nearly as fast as single-engine fighters of the era.
The Me 210's main landing gear
followed some of the design philosophies that had resulted from the main change in the earlier Ju 88
's main landing gear design, where each main gear had a single gear strut that twisted through 90º during retraction, to bring the main gear wheel resting atop the lower end of the main strut when retracted rearwards into the wing. Unlike the Ju 88, however, the Me 210's main gear wheels were "inside" the main gear struts when fully extended, while the Ju 88's were "outside" the struts.
The Bf 110 carried its ordnance externally, on the wings and fuselage
, but this created drag; the Me 210 avoided this problem by housing the bombs in an enclosed bomb bay
, in the nose of the aircraft. The Me 210 could carry up to two 500 kg (1,100 lb) bombs. The Me 210 had dive brakes fitted on the tops of the wings, and a Stuvi 5B bombsight
in the nose, for shallow-angle dive bombing
. In the fighter role, the bomb bay was fitted with four 20 mm cannon
s.
For defense, the Me 210's rear gunner was armed with two 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine gun
s. Each of these were fitted into half-teardrop-shaped Ferngerichtete Drehringseitenlafette FDSL 131/1B turret
s mounted on each side of the aircraft, and were remote-controlled from the gunner's position with a unique aiming setup, that had a rotating crossbar with a sideways-pivoting handgun-style grip and trigger at its center, "forked" at its forward pivoting end to fit around the crossbar. This unique aiming and control scheme rotated the crossbar axially, when the handgrip was elevated or depressed, to aim the guns vertically, and a sideways movement of the handgrip would pivot either one of the guns outwards from the fuselage for diagonal firing. The rear of the cockpit
canopy's side glazing panels were bulged out to allow the gunner to see in almost any rearward-facing direction. The guns were electrically fired, and an electrical contact breaker prevented the gunner from shooting off the Me 210's tailplane
.
An order for 1,000 Me 210s was placed even before the prototype had flown. In time, this would prove to be a mistake. The first prototype
flew with DB 601B engines in September 1939, and was considered unsafe by test pilots. Stability was bad in turns, and it tended to "snake" even while flying level. At first the designers concentrated on the twin-rudder
arrangement that had been taken from the 110, and replaced it with a new and much larger single vertical stabilizer
. However, this had almost no effect, and the plane continued to oscillate. The Me 210 also suffered from terrible stalls. With the nose up or in a turn, the stalls whipped into spins when the automatic leading edge slats
opened. The second prototype, Me 210 V2, was lost this way in September 1940, when the pilot could not get out of the resulting spin and had to jump. The chief test pilot commented that the Me 210 had "all the least desirable attributes an aeroplane could possess." It took 16 prototypes and 94 pre-production examples to try and resolve the many problems. Nevertheless, the RLM was desperate to replace the Bf 110s currently in service, and ordered full production in the spring of 1941. The type exhibited grossly inadequate handling characteristics, and a result, several elements of airframe were redesigned, including lengthening the fuselage, designated as lang ("long"). The Me 210C was built with DB 605
engines, as well as incorporating the changes to the airframe
. The Hungarian authorities were satisfied with the Me 210C in its current state, and purchased a production license for the type, designated Me 210Ca (a = ausländisch) as well as for its DB 605 engines. Several airframes were also purchased, to be completed in Hungarian factories for practice while the assembly lines were set up. Production started in the Dunai Repülőgépgyár Rt. (Danubian Aircraft Plant) as the Me 210Ca with the DB 605B engine, under an agreement where the Luftwaffe got two of every three produced.
The Me 210 was eventually developed into the Messerschmitt Me 410
, with DB 603 engines.
engines and greater firepower, it was still an outdated design.
The Luftwaffe started receiving their Hungarian-built planes in April 1943, but the Hungarians didn't get their own until 1944; however, when they did enter service they were more than happy with them. Production ended in March 1944, when the factory switched over to produce the BF 109G
. By that time, a total of 267 Me 210C had been built, 108 of which had been given to the Luftwaffe. They operated mostly in Tunisia
and Sardinia
, but were quickly replaced by the Me 410.
Me 210 A-1
Me 210 A-2
Me 210C
Me 210 Ca-1
Germany
Hungary
Japan
Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt AG was a famous German aircraft manufacturing corporation named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262...
Me 210 was a German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
heavy fighter
Heavy fighter
A heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges. To achieve acceptable performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews....
and ground-attack aircraft of 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...
. The Me 210 was designed to replace the 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...
in heavy fighter
Heavy fighter
A heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges. To achieve acceptable performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews....
role; design started before the opening of 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...
. The first examples of the Me 210 were ready in 1939, but they proved to have poor flight characteristics. A large-scale operational testing programme throughout 1941 and early 1942 did not cure the aircraft's problems. The design eventually entered limited service in 1943, but was almost immediately replaced by its successor, the Messerschmitt 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"). The Me 410 was a further development of the Me 210, renamed so as to avoid the 210's notoriety. The failure of the Me 210's development programme meant that 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....
was forced to continue fielding the outdated Bf 110, to mounting losses.
Design and development
Messerschmitt designers had started working on an upgrade of the Bf 110 in 1937, before the production version of the Bf 110 had even flown. In late 1938, the Bf 110 was just entering service, and the RLMReich Air Ministry
thumb|300px|The Ministry of Aviation, December 1938The Ministry of Aviation was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany...
started looking ahead for its eventual replacement. Messerschmitt sent in their modified Bf 110 design as the Me 210, and Arado
Arado Flugzeugwerke
Arado Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer, originally established as the Warnemünde factory of the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen firm, that produced military hydroplanes during the First World War.-History:...
responded with their all-new Ar 240
Arado Ar 240
The Arado Ar 240 was a German twin-engine multi-role heavy fighter aircraft developed for the Luftwaffe during World War II by Arado Flugzeugwerke. Its first flight was in 1940, but problems with the design hampered development and it remained only marginally stable through the prototype phase...
.
The Me 210 was a straightforward cleanup of the 110, and used many of the same parts. The main differences were a modified nose area that was much shorter and located over the center of gravity
Center of gravity
In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...
, and an all-new wing designed for higher cruise speeds. On paper, the Me 210's performance was impressive. It could reach 620 km/h (390 mph) on two 1,350 PS (1,330 hp, 990 kW) Daimler-Benz DB 601F
Daimler-Benz DB 601
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Mankau, Heinz and Peter Petrick. Messerschmitt Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410. Raumfahrt, Germany: Aviatic Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3-92550-562-8.* Neil Gregor Daimler-Benz in the Third Reich. Yale University Press, 1998-External links:...
engines, making it about 80 km/h (50 mph) faster than the Bf 110, and nearly as fast as single-engine fighters of the era.
The Me 210's main landing gear
Undercarriage
The undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...
followed some of the design philosophies that had resulted from the main change in the earlier Ju 88
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...
's main landing gear design, where each main gear had a single gear strut that twisted through 90º during retraction, to bring the main gear wheel resting atop the lower end of the main strut when retracted rearwards into the wing. Unlike the Ju 88, however, the Me 210's main gear wheels were "inside" the main gear struts when fully extended, while the Ju 88's were "outside" the struts.
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
, but this created drag; the Me 210 avoided this problem by housing the bombs in an enclosed bomb bay
Bomb bay
The bomb bay or weapons bay on some military aircraft is a compartment to carry bombs, usually in the aircraft's fuselage, with "bomb bay doors" which open at the bottom. The bomb bay doors are opened and the bombs are dropped when over the target or at a specified launching point.Large-sized...
, in the nose of the aircraft. The Me 210 could carry up to two 500 kg (1,100 lb) bombs. The Me 210 had dive brakes fitted on the tops of the wings, and a Stuvi 5B bombsight
Bombsight
A bombsight is a device used by bomber aircraft to accurately drop bombs. In order to do this, the bombsight has to estimate the path the bomb will take after release from the aircraft. The two primary forces during its fall are gravity and air drag, which makes the path of the bomb through the air...
in the nose, for shallow-angle dive bombing
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
. In the fighter role, the bomb bay was fitted with four 20 mm cannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
s.
For defense, the Me 210's rear gunner was armed with two 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine gun
MG 131 machine gun
The MG 131 was a German 13 mm caliber machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945...
s. Each of these were fitted into half-teardrop-shaped Ferngerichtete Drehringseitenlafette FDSL 131/1B turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s mounted on each side of the aircraft, and were remote-controlled from the gunner's position with a unique aiming setup, that had a rotating crossbar with a sideways-pivoting handgun-style grip and trigger at its center, "forked" at its forward pivoting end to fit around the crossbar. This unique aiming and control scheme rotated the crossbar axially, when the handgrip was elevated or depressed, to aim the guns vertically, and a sideways movement of the handgrip would pivot either one of the guns outwards from the fuselage for diagonal firing. The rear of the cockpit
Cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...
canopy's side glazing panels were bulged out to allow the gunner to see in almost any rearward-facing direction. The guns were electrically fired, and an electrical contact breaker prevented the gunner from shooting off the Me 210's tailplane
Tailplane
A tailplane, also known as horizontal stabilizer , is a small lifting surface located on the tail behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplanes...
.
An order for 1,000 Me 210s was placed even before the prototype had flown. In time, this would prove to be a mistake. The first prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
flew with DB 601B engines in September 1939, and was considered unsafe by test pilots. Stability was bad in turns, and it tended to "snake" even while flying level. At first the designers concentrated on the twin-rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
arrangement that had been taken from the 110, and replaced it with a new and much larger single vertical stabilizer
Vertical stabilizer
The vertical stabilizers, vertical stabilisers, or fins, of aircraft, missiles or bombs are typically found on the aft end of the fuselage or body, and are intended to reduce aerodynamic side slip. It is analogical to a skeg on boats and ships.On aircraft, vertical stabilizers generally point upwards...
. However, this had almost no effect, and the plane continued to oscillate. The Me 210 also suffered from terrible stalls. With the nose up or in a turn, the stalls whipped into spins when the automatic leading edge slats
Leading edge slats
Slats are aerodynamic surfaces on the leading edge of the wings of fixed-wing aircraft which, when deployed, allow the wing to operate at a higher angle of attack. A higher coefficient of lift is produced as a result of angle of attack and speed, so by deploying slats an aircraft can fly at slower...
opened. The second prototype, Me 210 V2, was lost this way in September 1940, when the pilot could not get out of the resulting spin and had to jump. The chief test pilot commented that the Me 210 had "all the least desirable attributes an aeroplane could possess." It took 16 prototypes and 94 pre-production examples to try and resolve the many problems. Nevertheless, the RLM was desperate to replace the Bf 110s currently in service, and ordered full production in the spring of 1941. The type exhibited grossly inadequate handling characteristics, and a result, several elements of airframe were redesigned, including lengthening the fuselage, designated as lang ("long"). The Me 210C was built with DB 605
Daimler-Benz DB 605
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9* Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1989. ISBN 0-517-67964-7...
engines, as well as incorporating the changes to the airframe
Airframe
The airframe of an aircraft is its mechanical structure. It is typically considered to include fuselage, wings and undercarriage and exclude the propulsion system...
. The Hungarian authorities were satisfied with the Me 210C in its current state, and purchased a production license for the type, designated Me 210Ca (a = ausländisch) as well as for its DB 605 engines. Several airframes were also purchased, to be completed in Hungarian factories for practice while the assembly lines were set up. Production started in the Dunai Repülőgépgyár Rt. (Danubian Aircraft Plant) as the Me 210Ca with the DB 605B engine, under an agreement where the Luftwaffe got two of every three produced.
The Me 210 was eventually developed into the Messerschmitt 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...
, with DB 603 engines.
Operational history
Deliveries to front-line units started in April 1942 and the plane proved to be even less popular with pilots. Production was stopped at the end of the month, by which time only 90 had been delivered. Another 320 partially completed models were placed in storage. In its place the Bf 110 was put back into production. Although the Bf 110 was now equipped with the newer DB 605BDaimler-Benz DB 605
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9* Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1989. ISBN 0-517-67964-7...
engines and greater firepower, it was still an outdated design.
The Luftwaffe started receiving their Hungarian-built planes in April 1943, but the Hungarians didn't get their own until 1944; however, when they did enter service they were more than happy with them. Production ended in March 1944, when the factory switched over to produce the BF 109G
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...
. By that time, a total of 267 Me 210C had been built, 108 of which had been given to the Luftwaffe. They operated mostly in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
and Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, but were quickly replaced by the Me 410.
Variants
Me 210 A-0- Pre-production aircraft.
Me 210 A-1
- Single-seat twin-engined fighter-bomberFighter-bomberA fighter-bomber is a fixed-wing aircraft with an intended primary role of light tactical bombing and also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. This term, although still used, has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial...
and heavy fighterHeavy fighterA heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges. To achieve acceptable performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews....
.
Me 210 A-2
- Single-seat twin-engined dive bomberDive bomberA dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
and heavy fighter.
Me 210C
- Improved airframe, DB 605 engines.
Me 210 Ca-1
- Hungarian licensed production version of the Me 210C.
Operators
Germany
- LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe 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....
operated 90 German-built Me 210A and 108 Hungarian-built Me 210 Ca-1. - Eprobungsgruppe(A) 210 (first testing unit)
- Versuchstaffel 210
- 3./SKG 210
- 16./KG 6
- 1.,2.(F)/Aufkl.Gr.122 (Me/DAF 210C-1 user)
- FAGr 122
- Stab/AG 22
- II.,III.,7.,8.,9./ZG 1 'Wespe (Me/DAF 210C-2 [Ca-1] user)
- 10./ZG 26 (Me/DAF 210C-2 [Ca-1] user)
- I.,II./NJG 1
- NJG 101
Hungary
- Royal Hungarian Air Force operated 179 Hungarian-built Me 210 Ca-1.
- 1° and 2° RKI Szazad "Villam" (Evaluation wing), RKI (Hungarian Aviation Institute)
- 5/1.Légi Szazad "Balog" (NF Sqn)
- 102.Gyorsbombazo, 102/1.Szazad "Tigris"
- 102.Gyorsbombazo, 102/2.Szazad "Sas"
- 102.Gyorsbombazo, 102/3.Szazad "Villam"
Japan
- Imperial Japanese Army Air ServiceImperial Japanese Army Air ServiceThe , was the land-based aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army. As with the IJA itself, the IJAAF was developed along the lines of Imperial German Army Aviation so its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground troops while maintaining a limited air interdiction...
received one aircraft bought in Germany for tests and delivered aboard of U-BoatU-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
. - Testing unit of First Tachikawa Air Army Arsenal
Specifications (Me 210 - long fuselage)