Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Bf 109 was the Luftwaffe's standard day fighter of the Second World War. First flown in 1935, it was built in larger numbers than any other fighter aircraft, developed through a decade of engine and armament changes, and remained in production until 1945. Licence-built versions in Czechoslovakia and Spain kept the design in service into the 1960s.
Why It Mattered
For the whole of the Second World War, the Bf 109 was the standard single-seat fighter around which the Luftwaffe's day fighter force was built. It first flew in 1935, one of the first of the new generation of fast monoplane fighters then appearing in Europe. More were built than any other fighter aircraft in history, and it was flown by the highest-scoring fighter aces in history. It remained in production right up to the end of hostilities in 1945.
Design Notes
The Bf 109 paired an all-metal monocoque airframe and automatically opening leading-edge slats with a liquid-cooled, inverted V-12 engine, at first the Daimler-Benz DB 600 series. On the ground the design was demanding: it had poor ground handling characteristics, and at least ten per cent of all Bf 109s are reported to have been lost in take-off and landing accidents. What kept the type current was growth: the basic design could take new engines and armament year after year, though its light early armament was not remedied until the introduction of the Bf 109G.
Operational History
The Bf 109 first saw combat in the Spanish Civil War, where the Luftwaffe sent fighters to Spain for the Condor Legion and the type proved itself in early combat trials. By the Battle of Britain in 1940, German pilots had met an opponent of a different order: only the Spitfire proved an aircraft in some ways equal to their own. Over Britain the type's limited fuel capacity told, reducing its fighting time to about twenty minutes before pilots had to turn for home. As the war widened, the G series became linked with the daylight bomber-killing missions in defence of the Reich, flown against American heavy bombers and their long-range escorts. Successive models gained speed and firepower, but manoeuvrability and handling were adversely affected as weights rose. The type nevertheless remained in production right up to the end of hostilities in 1945.
Afterlife
Wartime production was followed by licence production abroad: Avia built the type in post-war Czechoslovakia under the designations S-99 and S-199, while Hispano Aviación built its Ha 1109 and Ha 1112 versions in Spain. The Czechoslovak aircraft had a second career: twenty-five S-199s serving with Israel in 1948 were among the first fighters of the new Israeli Air Force. Spain's Merlin-engined versions served longest of all, remaining in service until the mid-1960s, three decades after the type's first flight.