| Messerschmitt Me 210 | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Description | ||
| Role | Heavy fighter | |
| Crew | two, pilot and gunner
| |
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | 40 ft 3in | 9.83 m |
| Wingspan | 53 ft 1 1/4in | 13.72 m |
| Height | 14 ft 1/2in | |
| Wing area | 390 sq ft | 36.2 m²
|
| Weights | ||
| Empty | 12,000 lb | 5,440 kg |
| Maximum take-off | 17,857 lb | 8100 kg
|
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | 2 Daimler-Benz DB 601F | |
| Power | 2x 1,395hp | 2x 660 kW
|
| Performance | ||
| Maximum speed | 385 mph | 620 km/h |
| Combat range | 1,491 mi | 2400 km |
| Ferry range | ||
| Service ceiling | 22,967 ft | 7,000 m
|
| Armament | ||
| Guns | 2x 13mm MG131 for defense, additional forward firing guns typically included 2x 7.9mm MG17 and 2x 20mm MG151/20 | |
| Bombs | 2,200 lb | 1000 kg |
The Messerschmitt Me 210 was a heavy fighter designed before the start of World War II to replace the Bf 110 in that role. The first examples of the Me 210 were ready in 1939 but they proved to have terrible handling, and remedying the problem took so long that everyone involved tried to distance themselves from it. An improved version was eventually ready years later, but the 210 had garnered such a bad reputation that it was renamed the Me 410 to avoid disdain.
Messerschmitt designers had started working on an upgrade to the Bf 110 in 1937, before the production version had even flown. In late 1938 the 110 was just entering service when the RLM also started looking for its replacement. Messerschmitt sent in their modifed 110 as the Me 210, and Arado responded with their all-new Arado 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 210 looked fantastic. It could reach 385mph on two 1,395hp Dailmer-Benz DB 601F engines, making it about 50mph faster than the 110, and as fast as single-engine fighters of the era. It had a huge bomb-bay in the nose, which could hold up to 1000kg of bombs, or alternately up to six 20mm cannon, with dive breaks were fitted on the tops of the wings and a Stuvi 5B bomb sight in the nose for dive bombing. For defense it mounted clever remote-controlled guns in well-faired barbettes on the side of the plane, and the cockpit had a "bulged" canopy to allow the gunner to see (and aim) down and to the rear.
An order for 1,000 was placed even before the prototype had flown. In time this would prove to be unwise. The first prototype 210 flew with 601A engines in September 1939 and was considered unflyable. 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 vertical stabilizer. However this had almost no real effect, and the plane continued to snake. The plane also had terrible stalls, and with the nose up or in a turn the stalls whipped into spins when the leading-edge slats opened. V2 was lost this way the next September 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." Nevertheless, the RLM was desperate to replace the 6,000 110's currently in service, and ordered full production in the spring of 1941.
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 were simply left unfinished on the factory floor. In its place the 110 went back into production, now hopelessly outclassed even when equipped with the newer DB 605 engines.
Meanwhile the various German allies were more than happy with the plane in its current state, and Hungary purchased several of the unfinished airframes and completed them in their own factories. They then went on to start production of their own, known as the 210C with the DB 605B engine, under an agreement where the Luftwaffe got two of every three produced. The Luftwaffe started receiving their planes in April 1943, but the Hungarians didn't get their own until 1944, but when they did enter service they were more than happy with them. Production ended in March 1944, when the factory switched over the produce Messerschmitt Bf 109G's. By that time, a total of 267 Me 210Cs had been built, 108 of them had been given to the Luftwaffe.
| Messerschmitt Me 410A-1 |
| The larger engines and longer tail are evident |
The C models were so much better than the A's that there was talk of producing a 210D in Germany, identical to the Hungarian C's. However by this time a complete detail redesign the plane resulted in the "new" Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet). The new version included a (somewhat obvious) lengthened fuselage and new leading-edge slats, both of which had been tested on leftover 210s and had dramatically improved handling. It also included the new 1,750hp DB 603A engines, which drove it to 390mph and greatly improved climb rates, service ceiling, and most notably the cruise speed which jumped to 360mph even though the new design added 1,500 lbs to the original. Shackles under the wings for four 50kg bombs were also added, as the new plane could lift a load larger than could be fit into the internal bay.
The 410 was the plane that the 210 should have been, and finally started deliveries in late 1943 — over two years later than the original plan. When it arrived it was greatly liked by its crews, even though its improved performance was no longer enough to protect it from the swarms of high performance Allied fighters they faced. Why it took over two years to fix what should have been a fairly straightforward problem is something of a mystery. The 410 would prove to be something of a shock to the British, when in February 1944 they started flying over England, after a year of shooting down anything that approached the island.
| Messerschmitt Me 410A-1/U4 |
| Note the new telescopic gunsight, protruding just above the cannon |
The basic A-series planes were armed with two MG 17's and two MG 151's in the nose, and delivered as the Me 410A-1 light bomber, Me 410A-2 heavy fighter versions, the only real difference being the removal of the Stuvi bombsight and external bomb shackles in the A-2 versions. Three Umrüst-Bausätze (factory conversion kits) were available, U1 contained a pallete of cameras for the photo-reconnaissance role, U2 with two 20mm MG 151/20 cannon with 250 rounds each for the heavy fighter use, and U4 used the 50mm BK50 cannon with 21 rounds for bomber hunting. The cannon, derived from a now outdated anti-tank weapon, allowed the 410s to shoot at their targets from over 1,000 yards, a distance at which the bomber's guns were useless for defense. TheMe 410A-3 was later modifed from the A-1/U1 with a deeper fuselage for additional cameras and fuel. The 410A-3 entered service in small numbers in early 1944, and equipped three long-range reconnaissance Staffeln (one on the Western Front and the other two on the Eastern Front).
The Me 410B-series was largely the same as the A-series, but replaced the MG 17's with MG 131's, and used the newer 1,900hp DB 603G series engines with improved superchargers. This increased the maximum speed to 392mph (630 km/h), and cruising speed to 370mph (595 km/h), although the weights increased once again. The versions were the same as with the A-series, the Me 410B-1, Me 410B-2 and Me 410B-3 filling the same roles as the earlier A-1, A-2 and A-3 versions.
Several experimental models were also developed. The Me 410B-5 added shackles under the fuselage to carry a torpedo, and removed the MG17's in the nose to make room for the FuG 200 Hohentwiel ship-search radar. The bomb bay was not used in this version, and it was instead used to fit a 650 litre (143 Imp gal) fuel tank, as well as allowing the defensive gun barbettes to be replaced by another 700 litre (154 Imp gal) fuel tank for long-range missions. The Me 410B-6 was a similar anti-shipping conversion, but intended for the short-range coastal role only. For this mission it did not use a torpedo, and was instead a simple modification of the B-1 with the FuG 200 radar. The Me 410B-8 was an updated B-3 reconnaissance model that was built in very small numbers.
The Me 410C was a high-altitude version drawn up in early 1944, with two new wings designs that increased span to 60 ft or 67 ft (18.25 m or 20.45 m). The larger wings allowed the gear to retract directly to the rear. A new universal engine mount would allow for the use of any of the DB 603JZ, Junkers Jumo 213E/JZ, or BMW 801TJ, all turbocharged versions of existing engines, driving a new four-bladed propeller with very wide blades. The 801 was air-cooled and the 213 used an annular radiator in the nose, so the normal under-wing radiators were removed and the DB powered versions would use the radiator from the 213's. None were ever built, as the engines never matured.
The Me 410D was a simpler upgrade to the B-series to improve altitude performance, but not to the same degree as the C-series. It would be powered by the DB 603JZ engines, and had a revised forward fuselage to increase the field of view of the pilot reduce drag. It also replaced portions of the outer wing panels with ones made of wood to conserve strategic materials. Several were built, but like many other attempts at wood construction, the loss of the Tegofilm factory in a bombing raid meant the adhesives available were not strong enough, and the wooden portions failed.
Production was eventually cancelled to concentrate on Messerschmitt Me 109G's in August 1944, after 1,160 410's had been built.