Frontline
Nazi fighterplane in
World War II, manufactured by
Messerschmitt. Its versatility allowed it to see action in a number of
fronts and
campaigns during the war—the
Russian and
North African fronts, the
Invasion of France and the
Battle of Britain.
Earlier versions of the 109 were also used during the
Spanish Civil War, which preceded the 2nd World War by roughly a decade. Spanish-built Messerschmitts continued to be produced after the war by
Casa as the
Ha-1112, but instead of the
German inverted
Diamler-Benz powerplant, it was powered by the
liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, similar to the one that powered the famous
North-American P-51 Mustang.
With some irony, the early
Israeli Airforce used
Avia S199's, the
Czech variant of the Bf-109, to fight the
Egyptians during
Israel's War of Independence.
Some trivia:
The Bf-109 was also known as the
Me-109. The
Bf designation stood for
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, which was the name of the company before
Willy Messerschmitt took over. Even though the company changed hands, both the Me- and the Bf- designations were used until the end of the war.
The world's greatest
fighter ace,
Erich Hartmann, flew a Bf-109 on the
Eastern front for the large part of the campaign against the Russians. By the war's end, he earned 352
kills which included, for the most part obsolete Russian fighters, and a handful of American fighters, and earned the nickname the "
Black Devil of the Ukraine" by the Russians.