Messerschmitt Me 309

History

The Messerschmitt Me 309 was one of two fighter jets (together with the later Me 209-II) developed by the German company during World War II as the successor to the famous Messerschmitt Bf 109. The Bf 109 was introduced to the Luftwaffe in 1937 and spearheaded all German air raids throughout the war, until 1945, with tens of thousands produced. This modern single-engine single-seat monoplane was then joined by the equally excellent 1941 Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

Together, the two fighters gave the Luftwaffe a clear advantage in nearly every air battle until they achieved pound-for-pound with newer and significantly more advanced Allied products.

While the Luftwaffe was already happy with its Bf 109, Messerschmitt's engineers pushed for an internal investment to give their aircraft a much-improved form - a new design, known as as "Me 309". The aircraft will feature a streamlined fuselage containing the engines in the forward pod, the cockpit in the middle, and a tapered tail in a traditional two-horizontal single-rudder layout. The wings are mounted low and straight, with curved tips, just midship. The canopy housed a pilot under a heavy frame arrangement with a reasonable view of the aircraft (consistent with the times).

The canopy can be opened with a hinge on the right, and the entrance is on the left. No added fuselage rotation meant that a window pane with good rearward visibility could be added behind the pilot.

The powerplant of choice became a liquid-cooled 12-cylinder in-line Daimler-Benz DB 603G engine producing 1,726 hp, driving a three-blade propeller arrangement. The armament of 2 x 15mm MG 151 cannons and 2 x 13mm MG 131 machine guns will be concentrated on the leading edge of the wing root. A scoop under the fuselage gives the aircraft a distinctive "low" appearance, similar to the North American P-51 Mustang.

Engineers designed the Me309 with a pressurized cockpit from the outset to handle working at heights.

One of the more notable features of the Me 309 aircraft was its use of three-wheel landing gear, the accepted standard at the time becoming the "smearing" type (Bell P-39 Airacobra and Lockheed P-38 Lightning) two famous wartime fighters, they had a tricycle arrangement). The landing gear consists of two single-wheel landing gear legs and a single-wheel front leg.

The main legs retract inward toward the centerline under each wing, while the nasal bones use a more complex 90-degree twist retraction scheme.

To keep costs in check, the Me 309 tested its more specialized system on an existing Messerschmitt airframe to prove its profitability. Ultimately, these key systems were pressed into her completely new airframe design, and a prototype airframe was completed in early 1942.

However, persistent mechanical problems with the complex nose landing gear delayed the Me 309's first flight until July 18, 1942. Testing proved the aircraft's handling, although its overall performance was only marginally better, and under light test loads, compared to the standard front-line aircraft of the Bf 109G model of the time.

With lackluster government support for the program, Me 309 was slow to move and eventually languished under wartime pressures (resources and talent being diverted to priority needs). As the Bf 109 and Fw 190 series were enough for the Luftwaffe to focus on its fighter fleet, the Me 309 never proved to be a serious competitor as a backup option.

As a result, the program produced only four completed prototypes before being cancelled.

The 1943 Me 209-II proposal, as a cost-effective gesture to borrow more from the existing Bf 109, added the Me 309, with only four of its own prototypes that were historically cancelled done before. Once again, the prototype was no better than the aircraft it was designed to replace.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Performance

Performance

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Changes