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| Me 410 | |
|---|---|
 Me 410 A-1/U2, RAF Museum Cosford, 1985 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Heavy fighter, fighter-bomber |
| Manufacturer | Messerschmitt |
| Primary users | Luftwaffe |
| Number built | 1,189[1] |
| History | |
| Manufactured | May 1943-August 1944 |
| Introduction date | 1943 |
| First flight | 14 March 1942 |
| Retired | 1945 |
| Developed from | Messerschmitt Me 210 |
The Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) is a heavy fighter and Schnellbomber ("Fast Bomber" in English) designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It was flown by the Luftwaffe during the latter half of the Second World War.
Work begun on producing a successor to the Bf 110 in 1937, however, the resulting Me 210 proved to be unsatisfactory, leading to production being halted in April 1942. Various options, including the ambitious Me 310 derivative, however, officials favoured an incremental improvement, which was represented by the Me 410. Although visually similar to the preceding Me 210, and was sharing sufficient design similarities that incomplete Me 210s could be converted into Me 410s, there were a few key differences between the two aircraft. Chiefly, the Me 410 was powered by larger Daimler-Benz DB 603 engines, a lengthened fuselage and automatic leading edge slats were also adopted.
During late 1942, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) were sufficiently convinced by the programme to proceed with quantity production of the type, the first Me 410s being delivered during January 1943. Various models were produced, including the Me 410A-1 light bomber, the A-1/U1 aerial reconnaissance aircraft, the A-1/U2 bomber destroyer, and the A-2/U4 night fighter. Upon their entry to service, the type was promptly flown on night time bombing missions in the British Isles, where the night fighters of the Royal Air Force (RAF) typically struggled to intercept it.[2] The Me 410 was also used as a bomber destroyer against the daylight bomber formations of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF); it was moderately successful against unescorted bombers through 1943, but proved to be no match in a dogfight with the lighter Allied single-engine fighters, such as the North American P-51 Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire. Following the Normandy landings, Me 410s were amongst the numerous Axis aircraft sent against the incoming Allied forces.
From mid-1944, all Me 410s were withdrawn from Defence of the Reich duties and production was phased out in favour of heavily armed single-engine fighters as dedicated bomber destroyers. The final role of the Me 410 was aerial reconnaissance. Only two Me 410s have survived in preservation into the twenty-first century.