This is a walkround I made during two visits to the RAF Cosford Museum in Shropshire, UK. It is about one of the only two existing Me-410 Hornisse (Hornet) in the world. This particular airframe, Me-410 A-1/U2 W.Nr.420430 was built
in late 1943 by Messerschmitt in Augsburg, as evidenced by the `Krj' on the manufacturer's plate on the fuselage.
This Me-410 surrendered at Vaerlose, Denmark in May, 1945. Its exact
unit at the time is unknown, although paint stripping at Cosford in the
1960s showed evidence of previous codes 3U + AK and (later) 3U + CC of
2 Staffel, I/ZG26 (Zerstörergeschwader 26) which had served in the Balkans and Italy. Possibly also coded at one time PD+VO with 2./ZG26. The museum's exemplar was one of six Me-410s that were taken to the
UK in 1945 for evaluation, but the only one later selected for
preservation, the others being scrapped. W.Nr.420430 underwent restoration in
1986, after which both engines were successfully run on the ground. It
was moved to Cosford in 1989.
The complete history of the Me-410 W.Nr.420430 can be downloaded in pdf format here (text credit: Adrew Simpson). If
you don't know much about the Me-410 and use to confuse it with the
Me-210 (like me), it is worth a little research. It was the last in a
series of twin engined destroyers
manufactured by Messerschmitt, and was used by the Luftwaffe in a
variety of roles. Its design was almost identically based on the
Me-210, which was a complete failure. The catastrophic behavior of the
Me-210 can be traced to an aerodynamic problem: the wings lift
resultant was located aft the center of gravity of the aircraft,
rendering it a very unstable behavior which killed many pilots. A small
revision in the incidence angle of the wings of its predecessor
solved the problem, with the Me-410 entering front line service in
March 1943. The name change was in order to avoid association with the
much maligned Me-210. The differences between the earlier Me-210 planform and the Me-410 are more evident in the drawing below:
(Credit: Wikipedia commons)
A total of 1100 Me-410s were built before production ceased in September 1944.
Used
as fighters, light bombers, photographic reconnaissance and
anti-shipping aircraft, Me410s were deployed in Western Europe,
Scandinavia, Russia and Italy. Heavily armed Me410s were used against
daylight air raids by the Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the US
Eighth Air Force, achieving some notable successes. However, with the
introduction of American escort fighters in ever increasing numbers,
the losses suffered by Hornisse equipped fighter units mounted
alarmingly and in the autumn of 1944 they were re-equipped with single
engine fighters (Wikipedia).
A
characteristic feature of the Me-410 was the electrically powered,
remotely controlled defensive gun turrets on each side of the fuselage
- called 'barbettes'.
The only other one Me-410 surviving today is the Me 410 A-1/U-1 (W.Nr.10018, converted from Me-210 airframe, making the W.Nr. 420430 even more genuine), but it is not on public display. This aircraft belongs to the American National Air and Space Museum and
is currently stored awaiting restoration at the Paul E. Garber Facility. It was found intact at an airfield
in Trapani, Sicily, in August 1943 bearing the markings of the
Luftwaffe's 2.Staffel/Fernaufklärungsgruppe 122 and was shipped to the
United States in 1944. It was given the US serial number FE499:
(Credit: Wikipedia commons)
I hope
you find these photos useful somehow. If you have
any interesting information about the history of this aircraft, please drop
me
a
line.
