But so were his opponents. Considering that the Bf110 in its original role faced mostly Hurricanes or even lesser gods, the Bf109s and Fw190s that tried to dispatch the Lightnings are a few notches up. By the way, just like the 109 the 110 did not have a Messerschmidt engine and was therefore designated Messerschmidt Bf110, not Me110. The ones that were to replace it were 'real' Messerschmidts and therefore got the designations Me210 and Me410.
Messerschmitt never made engines...the 'Bf' came from Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (or Bavarian aircraft works) which is where the planes were made. After the Bf 109 and 110, Willi Messerschmitt's status was such that he was given permission to use the 'Me' prefix in future aircraft. He tried to get the 109 and 110 redesignated 'Me' retrospectively, but the RLM never agreed. However, most people in the Luftwaffe as well as the Allies routinely referred to them as 'Me' planes. Tony Williams
Oh, sorry, thanks for clearing it up. However, I think the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (from which emerged the car brand BMW) deserves its name on those planes. It was common to name it after the manufacturer.
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke became the Bayerische Motorenwerken after WWI, when aircraft production was prohibited by the Versaille treaty. But it was reformed in 1926, taking over the factory of the former Bayerisce Rumpler Werke. The second Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was renamed the Messerschmitt AG in 1938. The first Messerschmitt design to be designated Me was the Me 162, this was never built and the number was given to the Heinkel design instead ( He 162 ), the first Me designated aircraft to be built was the Me 163 Komet. So, as a rule of thumb, every Messerschmitt with a number equal to or higher than 163 is a "Me", everything else is a "Bf".
Most historians us the "Me" prefix for Messerschmitt's aircraft, as do veterans of the air war. I figure a lot of that is to avoid confusing the reader.
