With cutting-edge design and powerful engines, the Me 210 looked unstoppable—until it hit the skies. Plagued by design flaws ...

The Me 262 appeared in only relatively small numbers in the closing year of World War II. Messerschmitt factories produced 1,443 Me 262s, but only about 300 saw combat. The others were destroyed in ...

In the far northeast of Germany, at a secretive base near the Baltic Sea, engineers and pilots worked on one of the most dangerous aircraft ever created: the Messerschmitt Me 163 Comet. A ...

During the Battle of Britain (officially defined as lasting from July through October 1940), he served with RAF No. 253 and No. 85 Squadrons and damaged a Messerschmitt 109 on September 3.

There cannot be a pilot out there who’s not wondered what it would be like to fly a Messerschmitt, or been intrigued by the ersatz 109s that appeared in the Battle of Britain movie. Richard Grace and ...

On Dec. 2, McCuddin attacked a Messerschmitt fighter at approximately 15,000 feet over Mannheim, Germany, reporting hits around the enemy’s cockpit and noting, “As I pulled up, I saw him hit ...

Messerschmitt Me 163 “Komet” Initial History and Specifications The Me 163 Komet made her maiden flight on September 1, 1941, but didn’t enter into operational service until 1944.

Dangerous to Allied bombers as well as the ground crews that maintained it and the pilots that flew it, the tiny Me 163 had an amazing climb rate and top speed thanks to its unique rocket engine ...

As seen Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Stephen M. Katz / The Virginian-Pilot) To see a historic plane at a museum compared with watching one in flight, Chetwynd said, is the same as taxidermy is to a zoo.

Many German pilots considered the FW-190 D the finest aircraft the Luftwaffe put into service. Though the A-8 variant had proven itself an excellent fighter when it entered service in 1941, the D ...