Bf 109

Bf 109, Nazi Germany’s most important fighter aircraft, both in operational importance and in numbers produced. It was commonly referred to as the Me 109 after its designer, Willy Messerschmitt.

Designed by the Bavarian Airplane Company in response to a 1934 Luftwaffe specification for a high-performance single-seat fighter, the Bf 109 was, in essence, the smallest airframe that could be wrapped around the most powerful in-line aero engine available and still carry useful armament. Because Germany’s aviation industry had started from scratch following Adolf Hitler’s recent abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles prohibition on aircraft production, the only engine available in 1934 was a Junkers Jumo of only 210 horsepower (though Daimler-Benz had far-more-powerful engines on the drawing board). The resulting design was a small, angular low-wing monoplane with closely set main landing gear that retracted outward into the wings. The first prototype flew in October 1935—powered by a British Rolls-Royce engine, since even the Jumo was not yet available. The Jumo-powered Bf 109B, armed with four 7.92-mm (0.3-inch) machine guns, entered service in 1937 and was immediately tested in combat in the Spanish Civil War. There it fought with success against Soviet I-16 monoplanes and I-15 biplane fighters, in part because of the Luftwaffe’s pioneering use of interplane radio to control formations in air-to-air combat.

Meanwhile, fuel-injected Daimler-Benz DB601 engines in the 1,000-horsepower range had become available, resulting in the Bf 109E, armed with two wing-mounted 20-mm (0.8-inch) automatic cannons and two machine guns in the engine cowling. (An additional cannon was to fire through the propeller hub, but this was not immediately successful.) The Bf 109E, the principal German fighter from the invasion of Poland in 1939 through the Battle of Britain (1940–41), had a top speed of 350 miles (570 km) per hour and a ceiling of 36,000 feet (11,000 metres). It was superior to anything the Allies could muster at low and medium altitudes, but it was outperformed by the British Spitfire at altitudes above 15,000 feet (4,600 metres). It was faster in a dive than both the Spitfire and the Hurricane and, except for the Spitfire at high altitudes, could also outclimb both. The Hurricane was considerably slower, but it could outturn the Messerschmitt, as could the Spitfire in the hands of a skilled pilot. In addition, the Messerschmitt’s range was severely limited by its small fuel capacity, and its closely set landing gear was prone to ground looping and collapse on muddy fields—a deficiency that cost the Luftwaffe dearly.

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By 1941 improved models of the Spitfire had outclassed DB601-powered Bf 109s, and the latter had given way to the Bf 109G, powered by the 1,400-horsepower DB605. The Bf 109G was produced in greater numbers than any other model and served on all fronts. It was armed with a pair of 0.5-inch (12.7-mm) machine guns in the engine cowling and a 0.8-inch cannon firing through the propeller hub; an additional pair of cannons or launching tubes for 8.3-inch (210-mm) rockets could be mounted beneath the wings for shooting down U.S. heavy bombers such as the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator. The plane’s combat range and loiter time were extended by jettisonable external fuel tanks, but, because of aluminum shortages, pilots were strictly enjoined not to jettison them except in the direst of emergencies—thus negating many of their advantages. When U.S. fighters such as the P-51 Mustang began to operate deep inside Germany with the aid of external fuel tanks in early 1944, the Bf 109’s underwing armament was abandoned in order to retain the performance essential for survival in air-to-air combat. U.S. bomber losses declined accordingly.

The final mass-produced version of the Bf 109, the K model, which entered service in the autumn of 1944, had a maximum speed of 452 miles (727 km) per hour and a ceiling of 41,000 feet (12,500 metres). The later models of the Bf 109 had excellent diving and climbing performance, but they were less maneuverable and more difficult to fly than earlier versions. Some 35,000 Bf 109s were manufactured in all, more than double the number of any other Axis aircraft. The Spanish Air Force used Messerschmitts refitted with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines well into the 1960s, and the Bf 109 continued in production in Czechoslovakia after the war as the Avia 199. Avia 199s were among the first fighters acquired by the nascent Israeli Air Force in 1948.