The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German fighter aircraft form the World War 2 era that served as the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s aerial air force. The first operational use of Messerschmitt Bf 109 started in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.
The aircraft still managed to see the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War 2 in 1945. This aircraft was amongst one of the top fighters of its era with the following characteristics.
- all-metal monocoque construction
- a closed canopy
- retractable landing gear
The aircraft was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted-V12 aero engine. The aircraft was normally called by the Allied as the Me109. Even the German aces called the Messerschmitt Bf 109 as Me109 even though it was not the aircraft’s official designation.
The designers of this aircraft were Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser. Both of them worked at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke during the mid-1930s. The initial purpose of this aircraft was to be an interceptor fighter but later models were modified in design to serve the following purposes.
- bomber escort
- fighter-bomber
- day & night, all-weather fighter
- ground-attack aircraft
- reconnaissance aircraft
The aircraft even after the war served in many air forces of the world. The aircraft is regarded as one of the mass-produced fighter aircraft in the history. A total of 33984 of these aircraft were built from 1936 to 1945.
For our readers today we have gathered a bunch of amazing facts about the Messerschmitt Bf 109 which are as follows.
First Flight:-
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 took its first flight back in September of 1935. During that time, Germany was rearming themselves. They casted off the restrictions from the World War 1 and the creations of weapons and machines like Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the part of this rearmament program.
Initially, it had British Engine:-
By the tie, when Messerschmitt Bf 109 was in the designing phase, the relations of Germany and Britain were good. This is the reason that the early models of this aircraft were powered by British engines of Rolls Royce Kestrel.
Build on the design of Bf108:-
The earliest design of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 came from Messerschmitt Bf 108 which was a four-seater aircraft for touring purposes. The design was modified with fighter aircraft capabilities and made into a single seater fighter plane.
Entering service:-
The very first fleet of the Messerschmitt Bf 109s was delivered to Luftwaffe back in 1937. These aircraft fleet were later transferred to the Jagdgeschwader 132 “Richthofen” which was an elite German formation. This German formation was named after the greatest fighter ace from World War I era that was known by the name of “Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen.
First combat mission:-
The very first combat mission in which Messerschmitt Bf 109 took part was during the Spanish Civil War. It was used as a tool of the Condor Legion. This German force was sent by Germany to aid the coup declared by General Franco against the left-wing government.
This fighting experience for the German pilots proved to be invaluable. The experience gained from fighting in Spain helped the engineers to make further improvements in Messerschmitt Bf 109’s design. In addition, to gain the experience, the forces also managed to help General Franco succeed the coup.
Record breaker:-
Back in November of 1937, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 reached the flying speed of 379.38 kmph. At that time it broke the high-speed record set for an airplane.
Model E:-
The most successful and definitive version of Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Model E. The model was also commonly known as Emil which was the fastest, most maneuverable plane that entered in the Luftwaffe service back in 1938. At the start of the World War II nearly 1000 of these “Emil or Model E” were built and used by Luftwaffe.
The advantage over British fighter aircraft; Weapons:-
The fiercest battles of Messerschmitt Bf 109 took place against Britain’s Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane aircraft. These were the two best fighter aircraft offered by Britain in World War II. However, they were only equipped with machine guns that fired rifle caliber bullets. On the other hand, Messerschmitt Bf 109s were equipped with cannons and thus had better range and caused more destruction to its opponent’s forces.
The advantage over British Aircraft; Engine:-
Another advantage of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 over the British fighter aircraft was the engine. Messerschmitt Bf 109 was equipped with Daimler-Benz engine. This engine came with a fuel injection system that supplied a steady supply of fuel to plane no matter what maneuvers pilot performed.
As for the British fighters, they were equipped with Merlin engines that would tend to lose their fuel supply if they made a steep dive. This resulted in a serious problem to British fighter aircraft in aerial combats.
Lasted longer than their creators:-
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 lasted a decade after the regime that created this fighter aircraft. A Czech firm titled “Avia” had a working factory for this aircraft at the end of World War II, so they continued the production of this aircraft. As for Spain, they built their own and Israeli’s bought the Messerschmitt Bf 109s to use them in combat of 1948.
It was an ironic situation because a Nazi-designed plane was actually sued by Jews to protect the Jewish homeland.
Last flight:-
After more than 35000 of these aircraft were built in nearly two decades of its creation, the last of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 took its flight back in 1956. Now some of its models only sit in the museum across the world.
Conclusion:-
The aircraft was one that was the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s main aerial force during the start of the World War II. The aircraft served its purpose splendidly as it dominated the British fighter aircraft alike Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes with its cannon weapons and its efficient fuel supply of engine. The aircraft, however, met with an unfortunate fate. The aircraft which was design by Nazi’s to fight in a war to eradicate all the Jews from this world was actually later bought by Jews to serve the same Jews to protect their homeland of Israeli till the day it retired from service.
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