Combat aircraft. Messerschmitts Me-210 and Me-410. Beyond Understanding
This time we will talk about two planes at once. Yes, in principle, these are different machines, but still the second was creative and fruitful work on the mistakes of the first.
And the first ... The first was generally one flying mistake, if we talk about Me-210 seriously.
357 produced (320 were not completed) copies of the aircraft did not play a special role in the war, the Me-210 was not a superweapon, and I would not call it a bunch of new products. But without 210, there would be no Me-410, which we will mainly talk about.
In general, story This aircraft (well, aircraft) is quite remarkable, since it provides a very clear picture of what happened in the Third Reich during the Second World War.
How the wings of the twin-engine fighter’s problem grew, we already know. From Bf-110, which at the beginning of the war could at best protect itself. And even then, not always. About how to be a real “Destroyer" or "Destroyer" (Zerstörer translates something like this), the discussion in 1941 was not discussed.
It is clear that a replacement would have to be constructed. And Willy Messerschmitt accepted the challenge, but ...
Yes, let's put it this way: the desire to become a leading supplier of aircraft for the Luftwaffe was a little stronger than what the Luftwaffe wanted. And it wanted dominance in the air. In general, somehow it did not grow together and ended in the collapse of the Luftwaffe.
It is clear that Mr. Messerschmitt was not just cool in those years, he calmly furnished his competitors from Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Dornier and Arado in the backstage scams. There is no Junkers on the list, but the Junkers were not involved in fighters, and the alterations of Ju-88 in the night light did not count.
And 1941 year shows that something needs to be done with crowds of English and American (especially) bombers! Moreover, everyone understands that they must be shot down! And if the war with the British night raids was more or less managed to be solved with the help of the night fighters of Kammhuber, then in the afternoon ...
In the afternoon I needed a high-rise, powerful arms and a fast-speed aircraft with a large radius of action and / or the ability to barrage for a long time, waiting for the enemy to approach.
In general, not Bf.109 or Bf.110. And in such conditions, work began on the Me-210. A heavy attacking twin-engine fighter capable of fighting American and British bombers.
And in the bowels of the company Me-210 was born. He can be safely called a miscarriage of the German aviation industry, and there will be no exaggeration. But there was a need for an airplane, and other companies did not have something intelligible. Problem…
But victory in the behind-the-scenes battles is not yet victory in the skies of Germany. And Me-210 became an illustration of this statement, especially since the plane could not even get on the battlefield.
Looking ahead, I will simply list the aircraft models that were being developed at the same time as the Me-210. The list, by the way, is impressive. Non-219, Ar-240, Hs-129, Bf-162, Hs-127, Fw-187 and Ta-154. And right away, Non-219 and Ta-154, which went into the series, but not when it would bring the maximum benefit to the Luftwaffe, immediately struck the eye.
Our hero, starting from the first flight in 1939, showed his convention as an airplane. That is, it was unstable in both horizontal and vertical planes. And all further work on the Me-210 was a struggle to make this miracle fly at least somehow. At the finalization stage, only the tail was changed three times.
Did not help. Aircraft still remained unstable in the air. Test pilots wrote reports that spoke of jerking in flight, turbulent turbulences arose in the tail section, and ailerons fluttered.
But apparently, while the pilots fought with a plane that stubbornly did not want to fly, Willy Messerschmitt won his next battle in the cabinets. And - lo and behold! - Me-210 was recommended for mass production! True, provided that the noted deficiencies are removed. The shortcomings, I must say right away, have not been eliminated, but the aircraft began to be assembled at the end of the 1940 year.
True, both started and finished. When it turned out that Me-210 is still as sad as in 1939. At the beginning of the 1942 year, two aircraft were redesigned, received the designation Me-310. However, these aircraft were unsuccessful. Finally, it was decided to abandon the release of Me-210, and Me-310, and proceed with the release of Me-410.
The most interesting thing is that Me-210 / 310 won from the failure of Messerschmitt ... Messerschmitt!
The failure of Me-210 / 310 primarily affected the release of Bf-110. They generally wanted to remove it from the release back in 1941, as soon as the 210 th flies normally. But in the end, Bf-110 released the whole war, and the last cars left the shops in March 1945 of the year.
It is clear that this was a slightly different 110, but under the conditions of the appearance of the Mustangs and Thunderbolts among the allies, he had nothing to catch (except for the Browning bullets).
It was originally planned to stop its production back in the 1941 year, but as a result, the aircraft lasted on the assembly line until March 1945 of the year!
But in 1942, everything sadly ended and a completely different story began.
At the end of the story of Me-210, it is worth noting that the Germans themselves did not rush for the helm of this imperfection, and therefore the planes were very quickly dismantled by the Hungarians who launched the release of Me-210 at their Danube plant.
When the Allies began to bomb Hungary, Me-210 were involved as air defense aircraft. And while American bombers flew under the cover of the P-38, things were going more or less normal. When the P-38 was replaced by the same P-51, everything ended very sadly for the Hungarian pilots.
A fair amount (159) of Me-210 Hungarian assembly fell on the Eastern Front. They didn’t win much victories there, they didn’t sound in our reports either, but, in principle, at that time ours didn’t care who to bring down.
On this, the story of the Me-210 actually ended and the story of another aircraft began.
In April 1942, it was officially announced the cessation of the production of Me-210 in German factories. The damage to Messsserschmitt was decent, that financial, that reputational. However, the matter for the Germans was complicated by the fact that only 200 Me-210 were at the factories at the assembly lines, 370 machines were at the preliminary stages of construction, and machine kits for assembly were also prepared at 800 units. And something had to be done with this.
Naturally, in order to get out of the situation, Messerschmitt made every effort to get out of this situation. So there was Me-410 Hornisse / "Hornet".
The unification with the Me-210 was huge, but in fact the new aircraft was not the same Me-210. Given how sad the 210 was, the decision was made to name the car a different name. An almost new aircraft was called the almost new name Me-410.
Structurally, the Me-410 did not differ much from its predecessor, which is quite natural, since in fact something had to be done with a thousand potential aircraft. The main thing - in the design of the Me-410 it turned out to eliminate the main critical shortcomings of the Me-210, namely to stabilize the machine in flight.
It cannot be said that the output was a perfect aircraft, but it turned out that we didn’t send ready-made kits for assembling aircraft to the landfill, and give the Luftwaffe some kind of, but heavy fighter. And thus, nine months after the cessation of work on Me-210, Me-410 appeared.
The work was done well. The shape of the wing radically changed, which became narrower and with a reduced bevel, Hadley-Page slats appeared. Changed and strengthened the ailerons, lengthened the fuselage. The main thing is that the changes helped and the plane began to fly as it was generally accepted.
In January 1943, the Luftwaffe received the first five Me-410 aircraft.
It was not just a heavy fighter, in fact it was a fighter-bomber. And produced in various versions. The main part of the armament was standard: two 20-mm MG 151 / 20 guns and two 7,92-mm MG 17 machine guns in the nose of the fuselage, and two 13-mm MG 131 machine guns mounted in FDL or FDSL rotating remote side turrets. Up to 1000 kg of bombs could be suspended on the internal suspension: 1 x 1000-kg or 2 x 500-kg or 8 x 50-kg bombs, but in general 500 kg were considered normal bomb load, the rest went as a reloading option.
The Me-410 bomber variant also had external bomb racks for four 50 kg bombs and a Stuvi 5B bomber sight.
Special aircraft such as the Me-410A-1 / U1 reconnaissance aircraft were also produced, in which the Rb 20 / 30, 50 / 30 or 75 / 30 or Me-410A-1 / U2 camera was mounted on a bomb, which was mounted on a heavy bomb with two more MG 151 / 20 cannons with an 250 round of ammunition. The result was a very impressive airborne volley.
For all time, German industry built 1160 Me-410 aircraft, plus about 200 it was redone from Me-210.
However, the expected success did not work. Yes, the factories began to build Me-410 at a very impressive pace, but alas, the number of aircraft was constantly reduced.
If Me-410 caught up and attacked the bombers, everything was pretty sad for the latter. But the main problem of the Me-410 was the Mustangs, whose pilots were rapidly reducing the number of heavy fighters, which in fact could not oppose the P-51.
As an example, the battles involving Me-410 on March 16, 1944, when the combined detachment Bf-110 and Me-410 of about 220 vehicles attacked a compound of American bombers. This armada had about 500 V-17 and 2000 V-24. The goal of such a huge number of bombers was aviation plants. The Germans shot down 18 bombers without loss. True, the Americans' cover fighters have already left due to insufficient radius of action.
In April 1944, in the so-called battle of Stettin, Americans lost 52 B-17, 12 B-24 and 16 P-38. German casualties amounted to 57 aircraft.
It seems to be almost equally divided, but the weight and cost of the B-17 and Me-410 are difficult to compare.
But when the allies landed in France and began to use airfields on French soil, then everything for Me-410 was over. More precisely, the P-51 and P-47 very quickly completed the German heavy fighters.
In general, we can confidently say that Messerschmitt did not succeed in the true “Destroyers”. Neither Bf.110, nor Me-210, nor Me-410 have become so.
There was one more page from, in general, not rich in events of life of a twin-engine engine. The most interesting, in my opinion.
One Me-410B-2 / U4 with a VK.5 cannon (50-mm) was captured by our troops and transferred to the appropriate institutes for study in accordance with the instructions.
Soviet specialists carefully studied and circled the Hornet in Ramenskoye and these are the conclusions that were drawn.
The test program consisted of 23 flights with a total duration of 14 hours 25 minutes, was performed by test pilot Major I.P. Piskunov, and the technical part was evaluated by Lieutenant Colonel V. Ya. Magon.
According to the test results, the aircraft was rated rather positively. A rather large document was drafted, called the Aircraft Testing Act. I will cite excerpts from this document, because our testers dismantled the aircraft “by the bones” in all respects.
In place of the arrow, the Me-410 made several test flights by test navigator Senior Lieutenant Poptsov, who made the following conclusions about the capabilities of defensive armament of the aircraft:
The armament of the aircraft in flight was not checked, all cannon and machine gun fire was carried out on the ground, in dashes. The main weapon, the 50-mm VK.5 cannon, was rightly considered by Soviet specialists to be unsuccessful and ineffective in comparison with similar domestic models:
The rear installation with the electromechanical drive of two MG 131 machine guns of the 13 mm caliber was much more interesting, because our serial aircraft did not have similar weapons with remote control. It was recommended that such a system be developed.
The work of the VMG was very impressive. Most of all, the testers liked the Kommandogerät integrated control panel. It allowed the pilot to change the basic parameters of the engine with one lever: revolutions, boost, fuel supply, speed of the supercharger impeller with a change in the pitch angles of the propeller blades and the ignition timing.
Naturally, the combat capabilities of the aircraft were also studied, moreover, not in theory. Me-410 training battles with the Tu-2 bomber, Yak-3 and La-7 fighters were conducted at the Air Force Research Institute.
Test Pilot Major Antipov:
Test pilot captain Pikulenko:
Based on the results of test air battles, Soviet test pilots concluded that the Me-410, having an advantage in speed, was a great threat to the Tu-2 and Pe-2, and the advantage only increased with increasing height. The power of the airborne volley to destroy the bombers was more than enough.
With fighter Me-410 could lead an exclusively defensive battle, but both the Yak-3 and La-7, surpassing it in speed and maneuver, definitely won all the fights.
However, if the Me-410 could launch a head-on attack or catch a fighter that jumped forward in sight, the final for our aircraft would be very sad.
It was also noted that fighter attacks from below from behind, especially strictly in the tail, are difficult to repel the arrow of the Me-410 aircraft, and fire in these cases is most often not aimed.
Attacks of fighters at angles in the cone of more than 60 degrees are almost impossible to repel with mobile weapons due to the insufficient angles of firing of the rear machine guns and the relatively insufficient maneuverability of the Me-410 aircraft compared to the Yak-3 and La-7 fighters.
What conclusions can be drawn from everything read?
Yes, the Germans were able to bring to mind the Me-210 and as a result, a rather advanced aircraft with powerful weapons was obtained. And in the world there were very few bombers able to get away from such an interceptor or withstand the fire of its guns.
However, the lack of speed and maneuverability in comparison with single-engine fighters made the Me-410 fairly easy prey. 410 was simply unable to fight, even defensively, with those planes that entered the arsenal of the Allies in 1944.
In this case, Willy Messerschmitt was simply late with the plane.
LTH:
Modification Me-210A-2
Wingspan, m: 16,35
Length, m: 12,15
Height, m: 4,30
Wing area, м2: 36,25
Weight, kg
- empty aircraft: 7 275
- Maximum takeoff: 10 700
Engine: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 601F x 1350 hp
Maximum speed km / h
- by the ground: 450
- at height: 535
Practical range, km: 1430
Maximum rate of climb, m / min: 535
Practical ceiling, m: 8900
Crew, prs: 2
Armament:
- two 20-mm MG 151 guns with 350 shells per barrel
- two 7,92-mm MG 17 machine guns with 1000 cartridges per barrel
- two 13-mm MG 131 machine guns in remotely controlled installations FDL 131 with 450 cartridges on the barrel
- 8 x 50-kg bombs.
Modification Me.410a-1 / u2
Wingspan, m: 16,35
Length, m: 12,50
Height, m: 4,30
Wing area, м2: 36,20
Weight, kg:
- empty aircraft: 7 525
- normal takeoff: 9 660
Engine: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 603A x 1750 hp
Maximum speed km / h
- by the ground: 505
- at height: 620
Practical range, km: 1700
Maximum rate of climb, m / min: 650
Practical ceiling, m: 10 400
Crew, prs: 2
Armament:
- two 20-mm MG 151 guns with 350 shells on the barrel in the bow
- two 20-mm MG 151 guns in the WB 151 with 250 shells on the barrel
- two 7,92-mm MG 17 machine guns with 1000 cartridges per barrel
- Two 13-mm MG 131 machine guns with 500 cartridges per barrel in remotely controlled FDSL.
And finally - a film shot by the British in the process of conducting their flight tests Me-410.
Sources:
Andrey Haruk. Luftwaffe destroyers Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410.
Sergey Kolov, Andrey Kurakin. Planes of the world. Fighter Me 410.
Vladislav Shunkov. Luftwaffe Aviation.
And the first ... The first was generally one flying mistake, if we talk about Me-210 seriously.
357 produced (320 were not completed) copies of the aircraft did not play a special role in the war, the Me-210 was not a superweapon, and I would not call it a bunch of new products. But without 210, there would be no Me-410, which we will mainly talk about.
In general, story This aircraft (well, aircraft) is quite remarkable, since it provides a very clear picture of what happened in the Third Reich during the Second World War.
How the wings of the twin-engine fighter’s problem grew, we already know. From Bf-110, which at the beginning of the war could at best protect itself. And even then, not always. About how to be a real “Destroyer" or "Destroyer" (Zerstörer translates something like this), the discussion in 1941 was not discussed.
It is clear that a replacement would have to be constructed. And Willy Messerschmitt accepted the challenge, but ...
Yes, let's put it this way: the desire to become a leading supplier of aircraft for the Luftwaffe was a little stronger than what the Luftwaffe wanted. And it wanted dominance in the air. In general, somehow it did not grow together and ended in the collapse of the Luftwaffe.
It is clear that Mr. Messerschmitt was not just cool in those years, he calmly furnished his competitors from Focke-Wulf, Heinkel, Dornier and Arado in the backstage scams. There is no Junkers on the list, but the Junkers were not involved in fighters, and the alterations of Ju-88 in the night light did not count.
And 1941 year shows that something needs to be done with crowds of English and American (especially) bombers! Moreover, everyone understands that they must be shot down! And if the war with the British night raids was more or less managed to be solved with the help of the night fighters of Kammhuber, then in the afternoon ...
In the afternoon I needed a high-rise, powerful arms and a fast-speed aircraft with a large radius of action and / or the ability to barrage for a long time, waiting for the enemy to approach.
In general, not Bf.109 or Bf.110. And in such conditions, work began on the Me-210. A heavy attacking twin-engine fighter capable of fighting American and British bombers.
And in the bowels of the company Me-210 was born. He can be safely called a miscarriage of the German aviation industry, and there will be no exaggeration. But there was a need for an airplane, and other companies did not have something intelligible. Problem…
But victory in the behind-the-scenes battles is not yet victory in the skies of Germany. And Me-210 became an illustration of this statement, especially since the plane could not even get on the battlefield.
Looking ahead, I will simply list the aircraft models that were being developed at the same time as the Me-210. The list, by the way, is impressive. Non-219, Ar-240, Hs-129, Bf-162, Hs-127, Fw-187 and Ta-154. And right away, Non-219 and Ta-154, which went into the series, but not when it would bring the maximum benefit to the Luftwaffe, immediately struck the eye.
Our hero, starting from the first flight in 1939, showed his convention as an airplane. That is, it was unstable in both horizontal and vertical planes. And all further work on the Me-210 was a struggle to make this miracle fly at least somehow. At the finalization stage, only the tail was changed three times.
Did not help. Aircraft still remained unstable in the air. Test pilots wrote reports that spoke of jerking in flight, turbulent turbulences arose in the tail section, and ailerons fluttered.
But apparently, while the pilots fought with a plane that stubbornly did not want to fly, Willy Messerschmitt won his next battle in the cabinets. And - lo and behold! - Me-210 was recommended for mass production! True, provided that the noted deficiencies are removed. The shortcomings, I must say right away, have not been eliminated, but the aircraft began to be assembled at the end of the 1940 year.
True, both started and finished. When it turned out that Me-210 is still as sad as in 1939. At the beginning of the 1942 year, two aircraft were redesigned, received the designation Me-310. However, these aircraft were unsuccessful. Finally, it was decided to abandon the release of Me-210, and Me-310, and proceed with the release of Me-410.
The most interesting thing is that Me-210 / 310 won from the failure of Messerschmitt ... Messerschmitt!
The failure of Me-210 / 310 primarily affected the release of Bf-110. They generally wanted to remove it from the release back in 1941, as soon as the 210 th flies normally. But in the end, Bf-110 released the whole war, and the last cars left the shops in March 1945 of the year.
It is clear that this was a slightly different 110, but under the conditions of the appearance of the Mustangs and Thunderbolts among the allies, he had nothing to catch (except for the Browning bullets).
It was originally planned to stop its production back in the 1941 year, but as a result, the aircraft lasted on the assembly line until March 1945 of the year!
But in 1942, everything sadly ended and a completely different story began.
At the end of the story of Me-210, it is worth noting that the Germans themselves did not rush for the helm of this imperfection, and therefore the planes were very quickly dismantled by the Hungarians who launched the release of Me-210 at their Danube plant.
When the Allies began to bomb Hungary, Me-210 were involved as air defense aircraft. And while American bombers flew under the cover of the P-38, things were going more or less normal. When the P-38 was replaced by the same P-51, everything ended very sadly for the Hungarian pilots.
A fair amount (159) of Me-210 Hungarian assembly fell on the Eastern Front. They didn’t win much victories there, they didn’t sound in our reports either, but, in principle, at that time ours didn’t care who to bring down.
On this, the story of the Me-210 actually ended and the story of another aircraft began.
In April 1942, it was officially announced the cessation of the production of Me-210 in German factories. The damage to Messsserschmitt was decent, that financial, that reputational. However, the matter for the Germans was complicated by the fact that only 200 Me-210 were at the factories at the assembly lines, 370 machines were at the preliminary stages of construction, and machine kits for assembly were also prepared at 800 units. And something had to be done with this.
Naturally, in order to get out of the situation, Messerschmitt made every effort to get out of this situation. So there was Me-410 Hornisse / "Hornet".
The unification with the Me-210 was huge, but in fact the new aircraft was not the same Me-210. Given how sad the 210 was, the decision was made to name the car a different name. An almost new aircraft was called the almost new name Me-410.
Structurally, the Me-410 did not differ much from its predecessor, which is quite natural, since in fact something had to be done with a thousand potential aircraft. The main thing - in the design of the Me-410 it turned out to eliminate the main critical shortcomings of the Me-210, namely to stabilize the machine in flight.
It cannot be said that the output was a perfect aircraft, but it turned out that we didn’t send ready-made kits for assembling aircraft to the landfill, and give the Luftwaffe some kind of, but heavy fighter. And thus, nine months after the cessation of work on Me-210, Me-410 appeared.
The work was done well. The shape of the wing radically changed, which became narrower and with a reduced bevel, Hadley-Page slats appeared. Changed and strengthened the ailerons, lengthened the fuselage. The main thing is that the changes helped and the plane began to fly as it was generally accepted.
In January 1943, the Luftwaffe received the first five Me-410 aircraft.
It was not just a heavy fighter, in fact it was a fighter-bomber. And produced in various versions. The main part of the armament was standard: two 20-mm MG 151 / 20 guns and two 7,92-mm MG 17 machine guns in the nose of the fuselage, and two 13-mm MG 131 machine guns mounted in FDL or FDSL rotating remote side turrets. Up to 1000 kg of bombs could be suspended on the internal suspension: 1 x 1000-kg or 2 x 500-kg or 8 x 50-kg bombs, but in general 500 kg were considered normal bomb load, the rest went as a reloading option.
The Me-410 bomber variant also had external bomb racks for four 50 kg bombs and a Stuvi 5B bomber sight.
Special aircraft such as the Me-410A-1 / U1 reconnaissance aircraft were also produced, in which the Rb 20 / 30, 50 / 30 or 75 / 30 or Me-410A-1 / U2 camera was mounted on a bomb, which was mounted on a heavy bomb with two more MG 151 / 20 cannons with an 250 round of ammunition. The result was a very impressive airborne volley.
For all time, German industry built 1160 Me-410 aircraft, plus about 200 it was redone from Me-210.
However, the expected success did not work. Yes, the factories began to build Me-410 at a very impressive pace, but alas, the number of aircraft was constantly reduced.
If Me-410 caught up and attacked the bombers, everything was pretty sad for the latter. But the main problem of the Me-410 was the Mustangs, whose pilots were rapidly reducing the number of heavy fighters, which in fact could not oppose the P-51.
As an example, the battles involving Me-410 on March 16, 1944, when the combined detachment Bf-110 and Me-410 of about 220 vehicles attacked a compound of American bombers. This armada had about 500 V-17 and 2000 V-24. The goal of such a huge number of bombers was aviation plants. The Germans shot down 18 bombers without loss. True, the Americans' cover fighters have already left due to insufficient radius of action.
In April 1944, in the so-called battle of Stettin, Americans lost 52 B-17, 12 B-24 and 16 P-38. German casualties amounted to 57 aircraft.
It seems to be almost equally divided, but the weight and cost of the B-17 and Me-410 are difficult to compare.
But when the allies landed in France and began to use airfields on French soil, then everything for Me-410 was over. More precisely, the P-51 and P-47 very quickly completed the German heavy fighters.
In general, we can confidently say that Messerschmitt did not succeed in the true “Destroyers”. Neither Bf.110, nor Me-210, nor Me-410 have become so.
There was one more page from, in general, not rich in events of life of a twin-engine engine. The most interesting, in my opinion.
One Me-410B-2 / U4 with a VK.5 cannon (50-mm) was captured by our troops and transferred to the appropriate institutes for study in accordance with the instructions.
Soviet specialists carefully studied and circled the Hornet in Ramenskoye and these are the conclusions that were drawn.
The test program consisted of 23 flights with a total duration of 14 hours 25 minutes, was performed by test pilot Major I.P. Piskunov, and the technical part was evaluated by Lieutenant Colonel V. Ya. Magon.
According to the test results, the aircraft was rated rather positively. A rather large document was drafted, called the Aircraft Testing Act. I will cite excerpts from this document, because our testers dismantled the aircraft “by the bones” in all respects.
“The general ease of piloting and good maneuverability of the fighter are noted.
The cockpit is cramped and sitting in it is inconvenient. The location of the levers and sectors for controlling the aircraft and engines, the location of the propeller-motor control devices and navigation devices are convenient.
The operation of the aircraft is especially facilitated by the presence of a supercharger speed shifter, an automatic machine that controls the temperature of the oil, and combined propeller and gas control.
The taxiing airplane is stable and well-controlled both with brakes and motors, but when using the brakes the feet get tired, because when braking you have to put in a lot of effort.
At climb, the aircraft is stable and well-controlled (nevertheless, they brought to mind the Me-210! - Approx. Aut.).
In horizontal flight, the aircraft allows flying with freed control over the entire speed range, the loads that occur on the rudders are easily removed with trimmers. The aircraft has a sufficient margin of track and lateral stability, the margin of longitudinal stability is less
Calculation and production of planting is not particularly difficult. There are enough rudders to land at three points, but the loads on the elevator at this moment are large. During the run, the aircraft is stable; it does not have a tendency to bonding when using the brakes.
At bends with a roll of 65-70 degrees (Vnp = 380 km / h), the aircraft is stable, the loads on the steering wheels are normal. On bends with a roll of 70 degrees (Vnp = 390-400 km / h) with a slight tug of the handle, a rapid decrease in the load on the rudders is created, and the aircraft tries to get out of the bend. The controllability and stability of the aircraft when performing a combat turn is good.
If one of the engines fails, it is easy to keep the plane with the rudders in a horizontal flight line. Loads from the rudder are removed completely with trimmers.
At altitudes from H = 6000 meters and below with normal flight weight, a long flight is possible with one engine running and a screw on an idle engine in a vane position at speeds from Vnp = 280 km / h to the maximum possible. In a long horizontal flight at the rated power mode, the temperatures of the coolant and oil do not go beyond the permissible values. In flight with one engine, it is possible to make turns both towards the running and towards the idle motor with a roll to 30 degrees.
Conclusions: according to the piloting technique, the captured Me-410В-2 aircraft is simpler than the production Pe-2 aircraft and is almost identical to the Tu-2 aircraft. In terms of controllability and maneuverability, the Me-410В-2 aircraft surpasses serial domestic bombers. ”
The cockpit is cramped and sitting in it is inconvenient. The location of the levers and sectors for controlling the aircraft and engines, the location of the propeller-motor control devices and navigation devices are convenient.
The operation of the aircraft is especially facilitated by the presence of a supercharger speed shifter, an automatic machine that controls the temperature of the oil, and combined propeller and gas control.
The taxiing airplane is stable and well-controlled both with brakes and motors, but when using the brakes the feet get tired, because when braking you have to put in a lot of effort.
At climb, the aircraft is stable and well-controlled (nevertheless, they brought to mind the Me-210! - Approx. Aut.).
In horizontal flight, the aircraft allows flying with freed control over the entire speed range, the loads that occur on the rudders are easily removed with trimmers. The aircraft has a sufficient margin of track and lateral stability, the margin of longitudinal stability is less
Calculation and production of planting is not particularly difficult. There are enough rudders to land at three points, but the loads on the elevator at this moment are large. During the run, the aircraft is stable; it does not have a tendency to bonding when using the brakes.
At bends with a roll of 65-70 degrees (Vnp = 380 km / h), the aircraft is stable, the loads on the steering wheels are normal. On bends with a roll of 70 degrees (Vnp = 390-400 km / h) with a slight tug of the handle, a rapid decrease in the load on the rudders is created, and the aircraft tries to get out of the bend. The controllability and stability of the aircraft when performing a combat turn is good.
If one of the engines fails, it is easy to keep the plane with the rudders in a horizontal flight line. Loads from the rudder are removed completely with trimmers.
At altitudes from H = 6000 meters and below with normal flight weight, a long flight is possible with one engine running and a screw on an idle engine in a vane position at speeds from Vnp = 280 km / h to the maximum possible. In a long horizontal flight at the rated power mode, the temperatures of the coolant and oil do not go beyond the permissible values. In flight with one engine, it is possible to make turns both towards the running and towards the idle motor with a roll to 30 degrees.
Conclusions: according to the piloting technique, the captured Me-410В-2 aircraft is simpler than the production Pe-2 aircraft and is almost identical to the Tu-2 aircraft. In terms of controllability and maneuverability, the Me-410В-2 aircraft surpasses serial domestic bombers. ”
In place of the arrow, the Me-410 made several test flights by test navigator Senior Lieutenant Poptsov, who made the following conclusions about the capabilities of defensive armament of the aircraft:
“The view from the rear cockpit provides a good view of the top of the rear hemisphere.
The overview of the lower hemisphere is insufficient, since the fuselage, stabilizer and planes that give large dead cones interfere with it.
The dimensions of the cockpit of the radio operator-gunner, the placement and volume of equipment, the placement of machine-gun mounts ensure that the gunner-radio operator performs all the tasks that lie on him. Orientation from the rear cab is not possible. ”
The overview of the lower hemisphere is insufficient, since the fuselage, stabilizer and planes that give large dead cones interfere with it.
The dimensions of the cockpit of the radio operator-gunner, the placement and volume of equipment, the placement of machine-gun mounts ensure that the gunner-radio operator performs all the tasks that lie on him. Orientation from the rear cab is not possible. ”
The armament of the aircraft in flight was not checked, all cannon and machine gun fire was carried out on the ground, in dashes. The main weapon, the 50-mm VK.5 cannon, was rightly considered by Soviet specialists to be unsuccessful and ineffective in comparison with similar domestic models:
"VK 5 caliber gun 50 mm, being tank a gun adapted for installation on an airplane is of no interest, with the exception of the automatic electro-pneumatic reloading system.
At a rate of fire at 40 rds / min and an initial speed of approximately 500 m / s, the gun has weight along with automatic reload units of 592 kg, while the domestic aviation gun NS-45 of caliber 45 mm at a rate of fire of 270 rds / min and initial speed 795 m / s has a weight of 3,5 times less, that is, 168 kg.
The rate of fire in the 40 rds / min practically provides for conducting targeted fire with only single shots. Efficiency of high-explosive fragmentation shells of the VK 5 cannon under action on aircraft structures (the fuselage of the Boston aircraft), revealed by test shots, slightly exceeds the effectiveness of the action of the NS-45 cannon. "
At a rate of fire at 40 rds / min and an initial speed of approximately 500 m / s, the gun has weight along with automatic reload units of 592 kg, while the domestic aviation gun NS-45 of caliber 45 mm at a rate of fire of 270 rds / min and initial speed 795 m / s has a weight of 3,5 times less, that is, 168 kg.
The rate of fire in the 40 rds / min practically provides for conducting targeted fire with only single shots. Efficiency of high-explosive fragmentation shells of the VK 5 cannon under action on aircraft structures (the fuselage of the Boston aircraft), revealed by test shots, slightly exceeds the effectiveness of the action of the NS-45 cannon. "
The rear installation with the electromechanical drive of two MG 131 machine guns of the 13 mm caliber was much more interesting, because our serial aircraft did not have similar weapons with remote control. It was recommended that such a system be developed.
The work of the VMG was very impressive. Most of all, the testers liked the Kommandogerät integrated control panel. It allowed the pilot to change the basic parameters of the engine with one lever: revolutions, boost, fuel supply, speed of the supercharger impeller with a change in the pitch angles of the propeller blades and the ignition timing.
Naturally, the combat capabilities of the aircraft were also studied, moreover, not in theory. Me-410 training battles with the Tu-2 bomber, Yak-3 and La-7 fighters were conducted at the Air Force Research Institute.
Test Pilot Major Antipov:
“The Yak-3 plane easily catches up and attacks Me-410 at altitudes of 1000-1500 meters and in all flight modes. The attack was most easily carried out, with the advantage in height, from the rear hemisphere on the side. But in this case, the Me-410 shooter sees the attacking fighter well and can successfully conduct targeted fire
When attacking from behind and from below, you can imperceptibly approach the Me-410 at a distance of aimed fire, since the downward view of the shooter is poor. During the battle, it was possible several times to successfully attack Me-410 from below and remain unnoticed by the shooter.
During the battle, the Yak-3 retained an advantage in height and speed.
The way out of all attacks was made, as a rule, up with a small turn to the side - so as not to lose sight of Me-410 and not to fall under its defensive fire.
In free air combat with a single Me-410 aircraft at altitudes of 2000-4000 m, the Yak-3 aircraft has a clear advantage, which makes it possible to occupy the necessary excess in height and launch attacks from any direction.
The Me-410 pilot was never able to take aim on the Yak-3 aircraft.
It’s most advantageous to conduct an air battle with Me-410 at medium altitudes of 1000-1400 meters. It is easiest for Me-410 to avoid fighter attacks at low altitude. ”
When attacking from behind and from below, you can imperceptibly approach the Me-410 at a distance of aimed fire, since the downward view of the shooter is poor. During the battle, it was possible several times to successfully attack Me-410 from below and remain unnoticed by the shooter.
During the battle, the Yak-3 retained an advantage in height and speed.
The way out of all attacks was made, as a rule, up with a small turn to the side - so as not to lose sight of Me-410 and not to fall under its defensive fire.
In free air combat with a single Me-410 aircraft at altitudes of 2000-4000 m, the Yak-3 aircraft has a clear advantage, which makes it possible to occupy the necessary excess in height and launch attacks from any direction.
The Me-410 pilot was never able to take aim on the Yak-3 aircraft.
It’s most advantageous to conduct an air battle with Me-410 at medium altitudes of 1000-1400 meters. It is easiest for Me-410 to avoid fighter attacks at low altitude. ”
Test pilot captain Pikulenko:
“At all flight modes, that is, at gaining altitude, when flying horizontally at maximum speed and at a decrease, the La-7 plane catches up with the Me-410, freely attacks it.
It is safe to attack Me-410 from below from below at angles of 60-70 degrees and exit attacks with a ranversman. In this case, the shooter does not see the enemy’s plane.
An attack from above from behind at large angles is also safe.
It is convenient to attack the Me-410 aircraft if it makes a U-turn. It is necessary to be inside the U-turn and carry out the attack from the angle 4 / 4, with the approach coming up from the attack with a turn towards Me-410. This will make it possible to take a starting position for a new attack and not lag behind Me-410.
In the event that the La-7 fighter jumped ahead of the Me 410 aircraft after an attack, it is necessary to sharply gain altitude with a turn to the side — so as not to fall under the fire of the Me 410 front points, the aircraft cannot make a sharp “slide”. After turning at 90 degrees, the fighter has the opportunity to stand on a course parallel to Me 410 and attack it from above at an angle of 60 degrees and from the side - at an angle of more than 45 degrees
I believe that if the attack is at an angle of less than 45 or even 30 degrees, there is no particular danger to get hit by the shooter, as he is uncomfortable to conduct aimed fire at large angles. "
It is safe to attack Me-410 from below from below at angles of 60-70 degrees and exit attacks with a ranversman. In this case, the shooter does not see the enemy’s plane.
An attack from above from behind at large angles is also safe.
It is convenient to attack the Me-410 aircraft if it makes a U-turn. It is necessary to be inside the U-turn and carry out the attack from the angle 4 / 4, with the approach coming up from the attack with a turn towards Me-410. This will make it possible to take a starting position for a new attack and not lag behind Me-410.
In the event that the La-7 fighter jumped ahead of the Me 410 aircraft after an attack, it is necessary to sharply gain altitude with a turn to the side — so as not to fall under the fire of the Me 410 front points, the aircraft cannot make a sharp “slide”. After turning at 90 degrees, the fighter has the opportunity to stand on a course parallel to Me 410 and attack it from above at an angle of 60 degrees and from the side - at an angle of more than 45 degrees
I believe that if the attack is at an angle of less than 45 or even 30 degrees, there is no particular danger to get hit by the shooter, as he is uncomfortable to conduct aimed fire at large angles. "
Based on the results of test air battles, Soviet test pilots concluded that the Me-410, having an advantage in speed, was a great threat to the Tu-2 and Pe-2, and the advantage only increased with increasing height. The power of the airborne volley to destroy the bombers was more than enough.
With fighter Me-410 could lead an exclusively defensive battle, but both the Yak-3 and La-7, surpassing it in speed and maneuver, definitely won all the fights.
However, if the Me-410 could launch a head-on attack or catch a fighter that jumped forward in sight, the final for our aircraft would be very sad.
It was also noted that fighter attacks from below from behind, especially strictly in the tail, are difficult to repel the arrow of the Me-410 aircraft, and fire in these cases is most often not aimed.
Attacks of fighters at angles in the cone of more than 60 degrees are almost impossible to repel with mobile weapons due to the insufficient angles of firing of the rear machine guns and the relatively insufficient maneuverability of the Me-410 aircraft compared to the Yak-3 and La-7 fighters.
What conclusions can be drawn from everything read?
Yes, the Germans were able to bring to mind the Me-210 and as a result, a rather advanced aircraft with powerful weapons was obtained. And in the world there were very few bombers able to get away from such an interceptor or withstand the fire of its guns.
However, the lack of speed and maneuverability in comparison with single-engine fighters made the Me-410 fairly easy prey. 410 was simply unable to fight, even defensively, with those planes that entered the arsenal of the Allies in 1944.
In this case, Willy Messerschmitt was simply late with the plane.
LTH:
Modification Me-210A-2
Wingspan, m: 16,35
Length, m: 12,15
Height, m: 4,30
Wing area, м2: 36,25
Weight, kg
- empty aircraft: 7 275
- Maximum takeoff: 10 700
Engine: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 601F x 1350 hp
Maximum speed km / h
- by the ground: 450
- at height: 535
Practical range, km: 1430
Maximum rate of climb, m / min: 535
Practical ceiling, m: 8900
Crew, prs: 2
Armament:
- two 20-mm MG 151 guns with 350 shells per barrel
- two 7,92-mm MG 17 machine guns with 1000 cartridges per barrel
- two 13-mm MG 131 machine guns in remotely controlled installations FDL 131 with 450 cartridges on the barrel
- 8 x 50-kg bombs.
Modification Me.410a-1 / u2
Wingspan, m: 16,35
Length, m: 12,50
Height, m: 4,30
Wing area, м2: 36,20
Weight, kg:
- empty aircraft: 7 525
- normal takeoff: 9 660
Engine: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 603A x 1750 hp
Maximum speed km / h
- by the ground: 505
- at height: 620
Practical range, km: 1700
Maximum rate of climb, m / min: 650
Practical ceiling, m: 10 400
Crew, prs: 2
Armament:
- two 20-mm MG 151 guns with 350 shells on the barrel in the bow
- two 20-mm MG 151 guns in the WB 151 with 250 shells on the barrel
- two 7,92-mm MG 17 machine guns with 1000 cartridges per barrel
- Two 13-mm MG 131 machine guns with 500 cartridges per barrel in remotely controlled FDSL.
And finally - a film shot by the British in the process of conducting their flight tests Me-410.
Sources:
Andrey Haruk. Luftwaffe destroyers Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410.
Sergey Kolov, Andrey Kurakin. Planes of the world. Fighter Me 410.
Vladislav Shunkov. Luftwaffe Aviation.
Information