Willy Messerschmitt
John C Pursley recounts the rise and fall of the famous German fighter plane designer
Born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany in June 1898, Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt grew up in Bamberg and as a boy, was fascinated by gliders, zeppelins, and other early forms of aviation. In his late teens, he befriended Friedrich Harth, a designer and builder of gliders, or sailplanes as they were called.
Both men served in the German
Army during WWI and afterwards were reunited and worked together on experimental gliders. During this time Messerschmitt also attended the Munich Technical School pursuing an engineering degree and, with Harth, designed a glider that broke a flight duration record.
Soon after graduation Messerschmitt founded his own aircraft design and manufacturing firm in the city of Augsburg, Bavaria and began constructing motor–powered aircraft.
His first, the Messerschmitt M17 was an all–wood, lightweight, open cockpit monoplane with a reliable British engine. The renowned WWI pilot Theo Croneiss flew the M17 in aerial contests and once reached the then astonishing speed of 93mph.
The aircraft was an instantaneous hit with new pilots in Germany and the high number of sales combined with its successor, the M18, significantly enhanced the reputation of Messerschmitt and his company. Before long, Croneiss became his trusted business partner.
The timing could not have been better as the German passenger airline service had recently been transformed to the Deutsche Luft Hansa, a government– funded enterprise operating out of the major airports. Recognising a profitable opportunity, Croneiss led the undertaking to establish Nordbayerische Verkehrsflug, a service utilising four–seater Messerschmitt M18 planes that shuttled passengers to major airports for their Luft Hansa flights connections.
With business flourishing and orders backing up, Messerschmitt needed money to purchase materials as he lacked the line-of-credit necessary to engage in such a large-scale endeavor. After negotiations with the Bavarian government, he struck a deal merging his company with the declining Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraft Works or BFW). With that union in-place, Messerschmitt gained access to a large manufacturing facility and a significant increase in the number of highly skilled and experienced workers.
His next major project was the Messerschmitt M20, a 10–passenger plane ordered by Luft Hansa. That order was subsequently cancelled after the plane crashed on its first test flight in February 1928, killing the pilot. Not to be deterred, a second prototype was flown six months later by Croneiss himself and provided the company sufficient credibility such that Luft Hansa recommitted to its order.
Major setback and recovery
Several planes were delivered, and business looked promising until two more M20s crashed resulting in Luft Hansa cancelling its order again but this time it demanded its deposit back. The resulting cash–flow problem forced Messerschmitt's BFW company into bankruptcy in 1931.
However, two years later, the rise of the Nazi Party provided an unexpected boom to Messerschmitt but also a formidable enemy in Luft Hansa chief Erhard Milch, whose friend had been killed in one of the crashed M20s. Milch became a very outspoken adversary claiming the Messerschmitt planes were unsafe.
In 1933, the Reich Aviation
Ministry, or RLM, was created, leading to a resurgence in the German aircraft industry and the resurrection of the defunct BFW company. Despite
Milch being placed in the position of the undersecretary of the RLM, Messerschmitt's company prospered once more thanks in part to its willingness to come up with prototype planes that could potentially be converted into military use.
Fortunately for Messerschmitt, his association with Theo Croneiss brought him closer to the Nazi power base, with Hermann Göering and Rudolf Hess among his supporters. That alliance kept Messerschmitt safe from Milch who controlled government aircraft contracts.
Messerschmitt's business greatly expanded after his new prototype won a 1935 Luftwaffe contest for fighter–plane design. Known as the Messerschmitt M37 and later by the RLM designation Bf108 Taifun (Typhoon), the craft was a low– wing, four-seater sports monoplane that could carry over 3,000lb and reach speeds of nearly 200mph.
Birth of the Bf/Me 109
About that time, then Aviation Minister Hermann Göering sent a confidential message to Messerschmitt asking him to develop a lightning-fast single-seat courier plane which was obviously intended to be a fighter.
Most German airplane manufacturers were requested to submit designs but unofficially, only large companies like Arado, Heinkel, Fieseler and Focke Wulf would receive any serious contract consideration. The combination of Messerschmidt having a political enemy and no real competitive aviation experience prompted the Nazi Government officials to tell him not to bother competing for the contract.
However, armed with the inside information, Willy Messerschmitt was determined to win a military contract. Since the German Air Ministry did not consider him part of the formal competition, he was free to design as he pleased rather than having to stay within the parameters stipulated by the aviation ministry, a huge advantage.
In March 1935, Messerschmitt and the design team at BFW decided to incorporate several of the Bf108's features into a low-wing monoplane fighter featuring retractable landing gear, an enclosed cockpit, leading-edge slots and trailing-edge flaps in the wings, and the capability of reaching speeds up to 400mph. While working on the project, Hitler officially established the Luftwaffe and renounced the Treaty of Versailles restrictions on German rearmament.
Designated the Bf/Me109, the project had a powerful V12 engine mounted into the smallest, most simple, and lightest all-metal airframe in the industry and met the mandated armament requirements of the Air Ministry. In
1936, the plane won the RLM's singleseat fighter contest.
The new machine was by no means a souped-up model 108, though the resemblance between the two was noticeable. What the 109 took from its predecessor was the importance of modular construction with the main stress areas located at a minimal number of common positions on the airframe, such as suspending both the engine mount and landing gear loads from the firewall. It immediately became the most radical and successful fighter of its day.
Another WWI Ace, Ernst Udet, became fond of Messerschmitt and, as luck would
have it, when Udet became the head of the Technical Office of the RLM, he recommended a large–scale order of the Bf/Me109, (35,000 would eventually be produced). These aircraft could be built in 4,000 to 6,000 man-hours, depending on the model. This was about onethird of the time it took the British to manufacture a Spitfire.
The plane became a significant segment of German airpower during the war and remains the legacy of Willy Messerschmitt. Willy and his factory quickly assumed an important role in the RLM's armament plans and in July 1938, he was appointed chairman and managing director of BFW and the company was renamed Messerschmitt AG.
That the Bf/Me109 was not the best performing, safest, or most comfortable fighter of the war is no secret but its combat record is beyond reproach. With all its faults, it was still a brutal killing machine and at the time of the invasion of Poland, there were 946 of them flying in the Luftwaffe.
The British Spitfires gaining superiority over the German fighter in 1941 forced many improvements in combat function to be adopted resulting in the G model. The new developments included a higher performing 1,400hp engine, two 12.7mm machine guns mounted in the engine cowling and a 20mm cannon capable of firing through the propeller hub. To provide a knockout punch to Allied bombers, Messerschmitt offered an option for two 210mm rocket tubes that could be mounted under the wings. This model was the most widely used and highest number manufactured during the war.