Aviation History - USA (2019-09)

AH 29

and the North American F-82

Twin Mustang, were particularly

sophisticated responses to the con-

cept, especially the Do-335. Had the

Dornier ever been produced in quan-

tity, it would have been a fearsome weapon.

Initially, Germany’s heavy fighter was

to be a fighter/destroyer—Kampfzerstörer, a ge-

neric Luftwaffe term (soon shortened to Zerstörer)

for an airplane that could be launched to beat back

hordes of attacking bombers. The unproductive

bomber-escort function of the heavy fighter came

later, after the surprisingly shortsighted Germans

realized they were going to have to go to war with

Britain but didn’t have bomber escorts with the

range to cross the Channel.

The hammer in the Germans’ heavy fighter

toolbox was the Messerschmitt Me-110, a fre-

quently maligned design that in fact was an

effective weapon from the beginning of Adolf

Hitler’s Polish blitzkrieg until the very last days of

the war. “Oh, that’s the bomber escort that was

so lousy it needed an escort itself,” somebody is

sure to respond. Well, yes, just as Hurricanes

needed Spitfire escorts while they concentrated

on shooting down Heinkels, or bomb-laden

Republic F-105s over Vietnam were happy to

have McDonnell Douglas F-4s hanging around.

The missing ingredient in the heavy fighter

formula was maneuverability. Nobody could roll

September 2019

PRE

VIO

US
SP

RE
AD

:^ A
DA

M^
TO

OB

Y;^ A

BO

VE
:^ A
KG

• IM

AG

ES/

ULL

ST
EIN

BI
LD
;^

TO

P^ R

IGH

T:^ C

OU

RT

ES

Y^ O

F^ W

OL

FG

AN

G^ M

UE

HL

BA

UE

R;^ P

AT

CH

:^ H

IST

OR

YN

ET

AR

CH

IVE

or turn an airplane as fast as a single-

engine fighter when it had two big V12

engines weighing down its wings. And to

make matters worse, the Me-110 had particu-

larly heavy controls. Even the strongest pilots tired

rapidly during serious maneuvering. “Pulling out

of a dive required the strength of an ox,” said one

Luftwaffe test pilot. “It was inconceivable to me

how such an escort fighter could ever have gone

into production.”

Though the 110 had substantial firepower in

its nose—typically four 7.92mm machine guns

and two 20mm cannons, with a variety of even

heavier weapons hung on later marks—it was too

often pursued from astern, an area covered by a

single hand-operated machine gun. The ultimate

Me-110, the G model, got a brace of more effective

rapid-fire twin Mauser tail guns.

During development of the Bf-110 (as all sub-

types designed for the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke

prior to July 1938 were designated), test pilot

Hermann Wurster flew the prototype in demon-

stration dogfights against Ernst Udet, in a Bf-109.

Perhaps the 110 was carrying minimum fuel and

no ordnance, because it reportedly could fly just

BETWEEN MISSIONS

Me-110C crewmen

discuss the battle over

lunch at an airfield in

France in 1940 before

returning to the fray.