Messerschmitt Me 210

The Messerschmitt Me 210 was a German heavy fighter and ground-attack aircraft of World War II. The Me 210 was designed to replace the Bf 110; design started before the opening of World War II. The first examples of the Me 210 were ready in 1939, but they proved to have unacceptably poor flight characteristics from serious wing planform and fuselage design flaws. A large-scale operational testing program throughout 1941 and early 1942 did not cure the aircraft's problems. The design entered limited service in 1943, but was almost immediately replaced by the Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse ("Hornet"). The Me 410 was a further development of the Me 210, renamed so as to avoid the 210's notoriety. The failure of the Me 210's development program meant that the Luftwaffe was forced to continue fielding the outdated Bf 110, despite mounting losses.

Design and development

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 the RLM started looking ahead for its eventual replacement. Messerschmitt sent in their modified Bf 110 design as the Me 210, and Arado responded with their all-new Ar 240.