Messerschmitt Me 309

Messerschmitt Me 309
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Messerschmitt
First flight:	July 18, 1942
Number of pieces:	4 prototypes

The Messerschmitt Me 309 was a single-seater fighter from Messerschmitt AG from the time of World War II . After four prototypes, the project was discontinued, among other things, due to unsatisfactory flight performance.

history

The Me 309 was planned by Messerschmitt under Richard Bauer and Waldemar Voigt from around mid-1940 as a radical further development of the Bf 109 . It differed from its predecessor in particular by the nose wheel landing gear , a main landing gear attached to the wings with a wide track, pressure cabin, ejection seat and a full-view canopy. Both the DB 603 and the Jumo 213 were planned as engines , both with projected outputs of 1700 to 1800 hp. In addition, the Me 309 should be heavily armed with numerous guns without these having to be installed in aerodynamically unfavorable gondolas under the wings.

The Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) showed little interest in the Me 309, as the Bf 109 was considered capable of performance and development. Due to the low priority at the RLM, the development was delayed, so that the final plans could not be completed until the end of 1941 and prototype construction could begin. The production of the DB-603 engine was also delayed and the first engine was delivered to Messerschmitt at the end of 1941. The multiple changes to the Bf 109 required extensive tests, some of which were carried out with converted cells based on the Bf 109F. The movable abdominal cooler was tested on the Bf 109 V23; the Bf 109 V31 also had the new nose wheel landing gear, and the pressure ventilation system for the new cockpit was tested with the Bf 109 V30.

Extensive rolling tests took place from June 27, 1942, which brought some problems to light. Among other things, a coolant line broke, nose wheel flutter occurred and the nose wheel bracket broke. The maiden flight of the first prototype, the Me 309 V1 (GE + CU), took place on July 18, 1942 with the works pilot Karl Baur, which however had to be canceled after five minutes because the coolant temperature was too high. The second prototype, which took off for its maiden flight on November 29, 1942, had to be written off immediately, as the nose wheel was not fully extended on landing and the machine was badly damaged. The engine used was the DB 603 A-1 with 1750 hp takeoff power. The flight tests showed that the Me 309 was faster than the Bf 109G and could also fly higher, but the Bf 109G was more maneuverable in cornering combat. When armed, the Me 309 was only slightly faster than the Bf 109G, and its maneuverability was further restricted. Since the machine still had many teething problems, its performance was unsatisfactory and the Fw 190D , which had already been projected by the competition, promised better performance, the project was discontinued on January 26, 1943 after the construction of the four prototypes V1 to V4 by the RLM and for the Export released. The Japanese military attaché in Berlin Osamu Otani was interested in the machine, but was not aware of the problems and test results. However, the V3 was not shipped to Japan because it was destroyed in a bomb attack. Even with a less radical attempt to further develop the Bf 109 in the form of the Me 209 , Messerschmitt failed in 1944. Another reason was an inadequate increase in performance and the Fw 190D, which was about to be launched, as well as the greatly enhanced versions of the Bf 109G and Bf 109K.

An important reason for the development of the Me 309 was that Messerschmitt would have had reinsurance in it in the event of the failure of the jet fighter Me 262. During the development period of the Me 309, it was not possible to estimate whether and when the jet fighter's engines would be ready for series production and available in the required numbers. It was completely open whether a redesign of the jet engines with special steel alloys that are hardly available in Germany would be possible at all. When it became clear that the Me 262 would be successful, Messerschmitt also lost interest in the Me 309.

A special version of the Me 309 was to carry an SC-1000 bomb under the right wing and a 260-liter container under the left wing. It seems more than questionable whether this asymmetrical arrangement could have been implemented in practice.

construction

• Type: Single-engine single-seater hunting
• Wings: Cantilevered middle decker with deeply set wings. Two-part, single-arm, all-metal construction. Automatic slats in the aileron area . Landing flaps a little inside the ailerons up to the base of the fuselage.
• Hull: Structure as an all-metal shell with an oval cross-section.
• Tail: Cantilevered normal tail. Construction in all metal.
• Chassis: retractable tricycle chassis. Main wheels inwards into the wings, nose wheel retractable under the bow of the fuselage while swiveling the wheel 90 ° backwards.
• Powerplant: A liquid-cooled twelve-cylinder engine DB 603 A-1 with 1750 hp take-off power. Three-blade controllable pitch propeller . Large abdominal cooler under the torso.
• Crew: 1 pilot in a pressurized cabin with a full-view canopy attached.
• Military equipment: armament with a 30 mm MK-108 motor cannon, 2 × 13 mm MG 131 above the engine, 2 × 13 mm MG 131 in the wing roots and 2 × 20 mm MG 151 / 20 in the wing roots inside.

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	1
length	9.46 m
span	11.04 m
height	3.50 m
Wing area	16.50 m²
Preparation mass	3,530 kg
Takeoff mass	maximum 4,085 kg
drive	a liquid-cooled twelve - cylinder Daimler-Benz DB 603 G engine with 1,287 kW (1,750 hp) starting power
Top speed	748 km / h at an altitude of 8,500 m
Marching speed	665 km / h at an altitude of 6,000 m
Landing speed	161 km / h
Service ceiling	12,300 m
Range	1,100 km

Web links

Commons : Messerschmitt Me 309  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Brief description and photos of the Me 309

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} FlugRevue October 2017: Messerschmitt Me 309 - The last one 09. pp. 82–85.
2. ↑ Marton Szigeti: Aircraft report : Messerschmitt Me 309 . Sentence with X: The last 09. In: Aviation classics . No. 7/2017 , p. 33 .