Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110 was a German twin-engined heavy fighter of the Second World War, conceived as a Zerstörer: a long-range destroyer meant to escort bombers and clear their path. It entered service in 1939 and did well in the early campaigns, but over Britain in 1940 it could not match the RAF's single-seat fighters and suffered heavily as a daylight escort. Fitted with radar, it found a second career as a night fighter and became the backbone of Germany's night defences. More than 6,000 were built, production lasting until March 1945, and the type outlived the aircraft designed to replace it.
Why It Mattered
The Bf 110 was the Luftwaffe's bid for a new kind of fighter: a twin-engined Zerstörer, or destroyer, with the range to escort bombers deep into enemy airspace and the firepower to fight its way there and back. The concept was put to the test in the Battle of Britain and failed, as the big fighter proved unable to fight on equal terms with the RAF's more agile single-seat Hurricanes and Spitfires. Yet the same aircraft, sent out at night with radar, became the backbone of Germany's night defences, and the RAF Museum rates it one of the most successful aircraft of its kind put into service during the war. It remained in production until the final weeks of the war, outliving the aircraft designed to replace it.
Design Notes
The Bf 110 grew out of the German Air Ministry's 1934 "Armed Aircraft III" specification, which called for a twin-engined heavy fighter able to perform a variety of functions, including long-range bomber escort and fighter suppression. The first prototype flew on 12 May 1936, powered by Daimler-Benz DB 600 engines. Those engines proved very unreliable, and the pre-production and early production aircraft had to make do with less powerful Junkers Jumo 210 engines until the fuel-injected DB 601 arrived. Firepower was concentrated in the nose — two 20 mm cannon and four machine guns in the early production aircraft — with a single rear-firing machine gun for defence. History of War calls the design's limited manoeuvrability its fatal flaw, one that worsened as more equipment was added during the war. Night fighter versions took a third crew member and carried Lichtenstein intercept radar in the nose; the RAF Museum notes the type was limited by the speed lost to its draggy radar antennas and by its short range.
Operational History
The Bf 110 first entered service in 1939, in time to take part in the Polish campaign, and by the end of August that year 159 aircraft had been delivered. In December 1939 its crews were credited with destroying nine of twenty-four Wellingtons intercepted over the Heligoland Bight, an action that enhanced its reputation as a bomber destroyer. The Battle of Britain reversed that reputation: used as a close escort on daylight bomber missions, the Bf 110 suffered heavy losses, 120 aircraft in August 1940 alone. Because the single-engined Bf 109 lacked the range for the work, the Germans were forced to keep using the type as a fighter escort, while other Bf 110s switched to fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles. After the Battle of Britain it was also used in the Mediterranean and over the Soviet Union. Towards the end of 1940 the type found a new role as a night fighter, its early crews relying on their own eyesight to intercept bombers until ground control radar stations were set up in mid-1941. Production was cut back while the Me 210 was expected to take over, but the Me 210 and its developed version, the Me 410, proved to be failures, and the Bf 110 returned to full production. Its final G series, equipped with DB 605 engines, formed the core of the night fighter force, and the G-4 was the last operational variant. Total production amounted to just over 6,000 aircraft, the last example completed in March 1945.
Afterlife
Only two intact Bf 110s are known to exist today. One is the G-4 night fighter at the Royal Air Force Museum London at Hendon, an aircraft that served with Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 on the night defence of Denmark and northern Germany. It was one of five Bf 110s taken by the British for technical evaluation, was selected for preservation in 1946 and moved to the RAF Museum in 1978, where it remains on display. The second intact aircraft, an F-2, is displayed at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin. Parts of a third aircraft, recovered from a lake in Sweden in 1995, are preserved at the Technik Museum Speyer, and a G-4 assembled from original spare parts gathered worldwide is displayed by a private foundation in Denmark.