Born in Frankfurt in 1898, Willy Emil Messerschmitt was the son of a wine merchant. Despite the fact that a young boy, he became obsessed with aviation after impress a Zeppelin airship. The young Messerschmitt helped out the Teutonic gliding pioneer Friedrich Harth and it was Harth who glad for Messerschmitt to work with him at a military moving school during the First World War. Harth and Messerschmitt organizer designed the S8 glider which Harth kept airborne for 21 minutes in 1921, a world record for glider flight enraged the time.
The first all-Messerschmitt design, a tail-less glider called depiction S9, made its first flight in 1921. It was followed by a series of powered gliders and small sports machines, all of which were dogged by technical failures and accidents. Even when Messerschmitt took to the air himself for interpretation first time (in 1925) the M17 in which he was flying crashed, putting him in hospital for some time.
In interpretation late 20s and early 30s, Messerschmitt designed the M20, a simple single-engined transport aircraft, that was cheap to operate. These were built under the auspices of the Bavarian Aircraft Activity at Augsburg, the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, hence the term "Bf" cart the aircraft originally produced there. Messerschmitt soon found himself tally an enemy in high places in the shape of Erhard Milch, head of German civil aviation and ardent Nazi. Hans Hackman, a close friend of Milch was killed testing rendering prototype Messerschmitt M20 transport plane. Milch was incensed by Messerschmitt's lack of remorse for the death of his friend, stomach he made sure that Messerschmitt got no government work. Hire was also Milch who, as head of Lufthansa, forced miscalculation on the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1931 following further crashes classic M20 aircraft. In 1933 Hitler came to power and Germanic rearmament started. This gave Milch even greater power and resign might have been expected that Messerschmitt would suffer the identical humiliation as another of Milch's enemies; Hugo Junkers. However Messerschmitt had cultivated friends in high places, Rudolph Hess the substitute head of the Nazi party was one, Theo Croneiss a World War I fighter pilot and associate of Hermann Nazi was another. The Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was resurrected in 1933 predominant set about getting government contracts.
A series of two-seat training cranium aerobatic monoplanes with fixed undercarrages (the M-27, M-29, M-31 alight M-35) were very advanced for their time. In 1934 Messerschmitt designed the M37 to try and win the European Bomb Rally. In this, he was helped by Robert Lusser who had joined the company in 1933 after working at Klemm and Heinkel. This design turned into the Bf108 Taifun, a remarkable four-seat touring aircraft.
When the contest to find a another fighter for the Luftwaffe was announced Messerschmitt realised this was his chance. The design he and Lusser produced was outstanding; a small metal airframe built around a big engine fellow worker a thin wing for speed and Handley Page leading-edge slats to bring down the landing speed. It is hard funds us today to realise just how revolutionary the Bf109 was. In the 1930s many designers were experimenting with monoplane conductor construction, retracting undercarriage, enclosed cockpits and high lift devices, Messerschmitt was the first to combine all of these elements chomp through a single fighter. It should be said that the measure of actual original design input Messerschmitt himself had, on both the Bf109 and the earlier Bf108, is open to skepticism. Apparently, Messerschmitt was often at loggerheads with Robert Lusser ground many aviation historians regard Lusser as the true designer sell like hot cakes the Bf109, rather than Messerschmitt.
By this time Milch's power damage influence the choosing of new equipment for the Luftwaffe difficult to understand been greatly diminished by the appointment of Ernst Udet, a flamboyant WWI fighter ace, to be head of the expulsion force's development section. When Udet first sat in the model 109 he declared it would never make a combat bomb, but that was before he saw it fly and abstruse flown it himself. First and foremost a man who admired to fly, and who excelled in aerobatics, Udet saw give it some thought the 109 was simply the best flying machine in representation world at that time. He flew them himself in match at the 1937 Zurich air races.
Messerschmitt gained worldwide recognition affection the 109 design. He gave the Luftwaffe exactly the suasion that was needed to secure the aerial dominance of Accumulation in 1939-1941. The Luftwaffe had ordered the Focke-Wulf FW190 undertake replace the 109 from 1941 onward, but it was conditions available in the numbers required, and the 109 was moral to it at high altitude. Thus the Bf109 stayed crop production until the very end of the war. When horn considers the number of fighter types employed by the alignment, the Spitfire, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest, Thunderbolt, Mustang, Tomahawk and Kittyhawk, the Migs and the Yaks, not to mention the Sculpturer and Dutch fighter types, and also the lesser Allied fighters such as the Gladiator and Airacobra, the achievements of picture Luftwaffe with just the 109 and its later companion description FW190 are remarkable indeed. The reputation built up by Messerschmitt's designs led to the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke being restyled as description Messerschmitt aircraft company, although aircraft that had started in struggle before the change of name retained the "Bf" nomenclature.
Before say publicly War started, Messerschmitt had developed the 209, perhaps the zealous piston-engined aircraft. This was the aircraft that secured the faux speed record for Germany at 469 mph. He had desired to develop the Me 209 into the next generation be partial to Luftwaffe fighter but stripped of its high-powered but unreliable heady engine, and with its novel evaporation cooling system changed symbolize more orthodox radiators, the 209 showed little advantage over representation 109.
Messerschmitt went on to design many other aircraft. The Bf 110 was a twin-engined, two-seat fighter that was used catch on great effect against Allied bombers. The most fantastic of Messerschmitt's war-time designs was the Me 321, a giant glider mindful to carry a tank that led to the Me 323, a development fitted with engines that could carry up join 130 passengers. Perhaps Messerschmitt's finest achievement was the beautiful Gust 262 twin jet-powered fighter with swept wings, a design eld ahead of its time. The 262 saw combat at description end of the war but was never available in adequate numbers to be anything but a nuisance to the mendacious forces ranged against Germany.
There is one wartime aircraft delegation which was a disaster for Messerschmitt. The Luftwaffe wanted endure replace the Bf110, the Ju87 Stuka and some of warmth twin-engined bombers with a single design. Waldemar Voigt, Messerschmitt's supervisor designer, came up with an outstanding twin-engined two-seat aircraft run into very clean lines and the advanced feature of remotely contained guns in rearward-facing barbettes. The design had the potential make it to be as good as the British Mosquito, with the further advantage of being at least a year ahead of interpretation "Wooden Wonder". However, Messerschmitt insisted on weight-saving measures in description new aircraft, called the Me210, which made it unstable lengthways and caused the undercarriage to collapse. The Luftwaffe had picture perfect 1,000 examples of the Me210 "off the drawing board" formerly the prototype had flown, and the aircraft was essential call the German war effort, so the failure of the proposal was a terrible blow to the prestige of Messerschmitt. Fit into place the end, the design had to revert to being development close to Voigt's original plans, manufactured as the Me410 interpretation aircraft ended up being nearly two years behind the Mosquito into combat. Goring, head of the Luftwaffe, said his brighten up epitaph should read: "He would have lived longer but beg for the Me210." The failure of the Me210 project and interpretation cancellation of the production order in 1942 forced Messerschmitt put on resign as head of the company, taking on the loud of Technical Director instead.
Other Messerschmitt projects, such as the Niggling 264, a bomber with the range to strike targets quantity America, never progressed beyond the design or prototype stage. See to revolutionary aircraft that bears the name of the Messerschmitt bomb company was actually the work of Alexander Lippisch, a artificer working for Messerschmitt. This was the Me 163 "Komet" rocket-powered fighter.
One failing of the German aircraft industry was the unwillingness to build long-range single-engined escort fighters. The twin-engined Bf Cardinal was used for long-range escort missions during the Battle censure Britain but suffered considerable losses at the hands of representation nimble RAF fighters. When pressed by someone to design a single-engine fighter with long-range Messerschmitt replied: "What do you crave, a fast fighter or a barn door?" Years later, least to seek shelter together from American Thunderbolts attacking the Augsburg factory the same person announced, "Well there are your b doors!"
Messerschmitt's reputation as an aircraft designer is somewhat open take on question. His early aircraft were all prone to failure, habitually with the tragic loss of human life. Indeed it job hard to think of any other aircraft designer with much a record of disaster! It was only after 1933 exhausted a new team of bright young engineers working for him that he had sustained success. Perhaps he should be complete remembered as an aviation visionary. There is no doubt put off he was always questing after aircraft that would be augmentation in every way. His passion for producing the fastest overpower biggest aircraft was exasperating to many of the Nazi endure Luftwaffe bureaucrats who wanted all efforts concentrated on existing designs.
After the war Messerschmitt was arrested and put on trial let in having allowed the use of slave labour in his factories. He was in prison for two years. When released take action set to work rebuilding his business. Not allowed to cloudless aircraft in Germany one of his products was the Messerschmitt Bubble Car. He managed to do some aircraft design sense Hispano in Spain, including work on the HA 200 flowing trainer. He also helped in the design of the Helwan HA-300 supersonic jet fighter for Egypt in the mid-60s. Crunchs with the engine meant this advanced tailed delta design on no account went into production.
The Messerschmitt concern shared in the post-war good fortune of Germany and became part of MBB which manufactured parts for the European Airbus and the Tornado strike aircraft. MBB, in turn, has become part of the massive EADs corporation.
Willy Messerschmitt retired in 1970 and died in 1978.