Messerschmitt Me 210

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Messerschmitt Me 210

Type	Heavy fighter
Manufacturer	Messerschmitt
Maiden flight	September 1939
Status	Retired
Primary users	Luftwaffe Hungary
Developed from	Me 110
Variants	Me 410

The Me 210 was a German heavy fighter and attack aircraft of World War II developed by Messerschmitt. It was designed to replace the Bf 110 in those roles. 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. 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 The failure of the Me 210's development programme meant that the Luftwaffe was forced to continue fielding the outdated Bf 110, to mounting losses.

Messerschmitt designers had started working on an upgrade of the Bf 110 in 1937, before the production version of the 110 had even flown. In late 1938 the 110 was just entering service, and the RLM started looking ahead for its eventual replacement. Messerschmitt sent in their modified 110 design 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's performance was impressive. It could reach 620 km/h (385 mph) on two 1,350 hp (993 kW) DB 601F engines, making it about 80 km/h (50 mph) faster than the 110, and as fast as single-engine fighters of the era.

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 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of bombs. The Me 210 had dive brakes fitted on the tops of the wings, and a Stuvi 5B bomb sight in the nose, for shallow-angle dive bombing. In the fighter role the bomb bay was fitted with four 20 mm cannon.

For defense the Me 210's rear gunner was armed with two 13mm MG 131 machine guns. These were fitted into half-teardrop-shaped turrets mounted on each the side of the aeroplane, and were remote-controlled from the gunner's position. The rear of the cockpit canopy was bulged out to allow the gunner to aim down and to the rear. The guns were electrically fired, and 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 210 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. 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 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 partially-completed models were placed in storage. In its place the Bf 110 was put back into production. Although the 110 was now equipped with the newer DB 605B engines and greater firepower, it was still an outdated design.

The Hungarian authorities were however satisfied with the Me 210 in its current state, and purchased a production license for the type, 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 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; 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 Messerschmitt Bf 109 G version. By that time, a total of 267 Me 210C had been built, 108 of them had been given to the Luftwaffe. They operated mostly in Tunisia and Sardinia, but were quickly replaced by the Me 410.

In practice, the Hungarian Me 210C was so superior to the German Me 210A that it was planned to fold its design features into a new Me 210D model. However, this was eventually developed into the Messerschmitt Me 410.

In last days of war, the Japanese Army ordered the design of an anti tank/strike plane. The Rikugun/Kokukosho Company used the design of Me 210A-2 (with features from the Me 410A-2 modifications) to produce the Rikugun/Kokukosho Ki-93 twin-engined anti-tank/ground attack aircraft.

[edit] Operators

[edit] Specifications (Me 210)

General characteristics

Crew: 2 (pilot and gunner)
Length: 11.20 m (36 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 16.40 m (53 ft 7 in)
Height: 4.30 m (14 ft)
Wing area: 36.2 m² (390 ft²)
Empty weight: 5,440 kg (12,000 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 8,100 kg (18,000 lb)
Powerplant: 2× Daimler-Benz DB 601F liquid-cooled inverted V12 engine, 1,350 hp (993 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (335 knots, 385 mph)
Combat radius: 2,400 km (1,300 nm, 1,500 mi)
Service ceiling: 7,000 m (23,000 ft)

Armament

Guns:
- 2× 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151/20
- 2× 7.92 mm (0.30 in) MG 17 machine gun
- 2× 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine gun
Bombs: 1,000 kg (2,200 lb)

For an explanation of the units and abbreviations in this list, please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/Units key.