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| Me 210 | |
|---|---|
 A Luftwaffe Me 210 A-1 of theVersuchsstaffel 210 test squadron, over France in 1942 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Heavy fighter,ground-attack aircraft,fighter-bomber,dive bomber |
| Manufacturer | Messerschmitt |
| Primary users | Luftwaffe |
| Number built | 90 Me 210A in Germany 267 Me 210Ca-1 in Hungary |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 1942 |
| First flight | 2 September 1939 |
| Retired | 1945 |
| Developed from | Messerschmitt Bf 110 |
| Variant | Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse |
TheMesserschmitt Me 210 was aGermanheavy fighter andground-attack aircraft ofWorld War II. Design started before the war, as a replacement for theBf 110. The first examples were ready in 1939, but they proved to have unacceptably poor flight characteristics due to seriouswing planform and fuselage design flaws. A large-scale operational testing program throughout 1941 and early 1942 did not cure the type's problems. The design entered limited service in 1942, but was soon replaced by theMesserschmitt Me 410 Hornisse, a further development of the Me 210. The failure of the Me 210's development program meant theLuftwaffe was forced to continue operating the Bf 110 after it had become outdated, despite mounting losses.[1][2]
Messerschmitt designers had started working on an upgrade of the Bf 110 in 1937, before the production version of the Bf 110 had even flown. In late 1938, the Bf 110 was just entering service, and theRLM started looking ahead to its eventual replacement. Messerschmitt sent in their modified Bf 110 design as the Me 210, andArado responded with their all-newAr 240.[3]
The Me 210 was a considerable departure from the 110, but used many of the same parts. The main differences were a modified nose area that was much shorter and located over thecenter of gravity, an internal bomb bay, an all-new wing designed for higher cruise speeds and a highly advanced remote-control defensive armament system that gave the gunner a far wider field of fire. On paper, the Me 210's performance was impressive: It could reach 620 km/h (390 mph) on two 1,350 PS (1,330 hp, 990 kW)Daimler-Benz DB 601F engines, making it about 80 km/h (50 mph) faster than the Bf 110, and nearly as fast as single-engine fighters of that era.
The Me 210's mainlanding gear followed some of the design philosophies that had resulted from the main change in the earlierJu 88's main landing gear design, where each main gear had a single gear strut that twisted through 90° during retraction, to bring the main gear wheel resting atop the lower end of the main strut when retracted rearwards into the wing. Unlike the Ju 88, however, the Me 210's main gear wheels were inboard of the main gear struts when fully extended, whereas the Ju 88's were outboard of the struts.
The Bf 110 carried its ordnance externally beneath the wings andfuselage, but this created drag; the Me 210 avoided this problem by housing the bombs in an enclosedbomb bay, in the nose of the aircraft. The Me 210 could carry up to two 500 kg (1,100 lb) bombs. The Me 210 had dive brakes fitted on the tops of the wings, and a Stuvi 5Bbombsight ("Stuvi"-Sturzkampfvisier, dive-bombing sight) in the nose, for shallow-angledive bombing. In the fighter role, the bomb bay was fitted with four 20 mmcannon.[4]
For defence, the Me 210's rear gunner was armed with two 13 mm (.51 in)MG 131 machine guns. Each of these was fitted into half-teardrop-shapedFerngerichtete Drehringseitenlafette FDSL 131/1Bturrets mounted on each side of the aircraft, and was remote-controlled from the gunner's position in the rear of the glazed cockpit area with a unique gun-aiming setup. This unit had a pivoting handgun-style grip, trigger and gunsight at its center, to aim the guns vertically—with both turrets elevating and depressing together when operated - and horizontally, in pivoting each gun separately, outward away from the fuselage side when aimed to one side or the other.[5] The rear of thecockpitcanopy's lower side glazing panels were bulged out to allow the gunner to see in almost any rearward-facing direction. The guns were electrically fired, and an electrical contact breaker acted as a form of "interrupter" as used on many forms of multi-engined, turret-armed WW II aircraft, preventing the gunner from shooting off the Me 210'stailplane.
An order for 1,000 Me 210s was placed before the prototype had flown. In time, this would prove to be a major error. The firstprototype flew with DB 601B engines in September 1939, and was considered unsafe by test pilots. Stability was bad in turns, and it tended tooscillate, 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 singlevertical stabilizer. This had almost no effect, and the plane continued to "snake". The Me 210 also suffered from terriblestalls. With the nose up or in a turn, the stalls whipped intospins when the automaticleading-edge slats opened. The second prototype,Me 210 V2, was lost this way in September 1940, when the pilot could not get out of the resulting spin and had to abandon the aircraft. 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 preproduction examples to try to resolve the many problems. Nevertheless, the RLM was desperate to replace the Bf 110s currently in service, and ordered full production in early 1941. The type exhibited grossly inadequate handling characteristics, and as a result, several elements of the airframe were redesigned, including lengthening the rear section of the fuselage by 92 cm (36-1/4 inches), designated aslang ("long"). The Me 210C was built withDB 605 engines, as well as incorporating the changes to theairframe. The Hungarian authorities were satisfied with the Me 210C in its current state, and purchased a production license for the type, to fill the role of theVarga RMI-1 X/H, designated Me 210Ca (a =ausländisch or 'foreign') 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 in theDunai Repülőgépgyár Rt. (Danubian Aircraft Plant) as theMe 210Ca with the DB 605B engine, under an agreement where theLuftwaffe received two of every three produced.
The Me 210 was eventually developed into theMesserschmitt Me 410, withDB 603 engines.
Deliveries to frontline units started in April 1942 and the plane proved to be even less popular with pilots. Production was stopped at the month's end by which time only 90 had been delivered. Another 320 partially completed airframes were placed in storage. In its place, the Bf 110 was put back into production. Although the Bf 110 was now equipped with the newerDB 605B engines and greater firepower, it was still an outdated design.
TheLuftwaffe started receiving their Hungarian-built planes in April 1943, and the Hungarians in 1944; when they entered service they were more than satisfied with them. Production ended in March 1944, when the factory switched over to produce theBf 109G. By that time, a total of 267 Me 210C had been built, 108 of which had been given to theLuftwaffe. The Me 210s of theLuftwaffe operated mostly inTunisia andSardinia and were quickly replaced by theMe 410.
Data from Messerschmitt Me 210/410 in action,[9] The warplanes of the Third Reich,[10] German Combat Planes[11]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
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