World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Me 210 heavy fighters were originally developed as the successor to the Bf 110 heavy fighters, and the work began even before the first production example of the Bf 110 took flight. Compared to the Bf 110 aircraft, Me 210 heavy fighters had shorter noses, internal bomb bays, and a new wing design. Impressive on paper, an order for 1,000 units was issued even before the prototype took flight. When the prototype took flight in Sep 1939, however, it suffered from poor flight characteristics and terrible stalling problems. Some patch work was done to alleviate the problems, though never resolving them completely. War demands pushed production to start nevertheless, and they entered front line service in Apr 1942. Unsurprisingly, they were not popular with German pilots, so much so that their unfavorable reports eventually caused production to be halted by May 1942, after only 90 were produced. The 320 units that were still incomplete were placed in storage.

ww2dbaseHungary, meanwhile, purchased a license to produce Me 210 heavy fighters at the Dunai Repülogépgyár Rt. The Hungarian-made aircraft were designated Me 210C, which began to enter German service in Apr 1943. Hungarian engineers took it upon themselves to improve the Me 210C design and improved some of the flight characteristics, resulting the Me 210C variant being superior to the German original. The Hungarians produced these heavy fighters until Mar 1944 when the factory switched production to Bf 109G aircraft. 267 Me 210C heavy fighters were built by Dunai Repülogépgyár Rt; 108 of them were deployed to the German Luftwaffe and 159 remained in Hungarian service.

SPECIFICATIONS

Me 210A-0

Machinery	Two Daimler-Benz DB 601F liquid-cooled inverted V-12 engines, rated at 1,332hp each
Armament	2x20mm MG151 cannon, 2x7.92mm MG 17 machine guns, 2x13mm MG 131 machine guns, 1,000kg of bombs
Crew	2
Span	16.34 m
Length	11.20 m
Height	4.30 m
Wing Area	36.20 m²
Weight, Empty	5,440 kg
Weight, Maximum	8,100 kg
Speed, Maximum	620 km/h
Service Ceiling	7,000 m
Range, Normal	2,400 km

Me 210C

Machinery	Two Daimler-Benz DB 605 liquid-cooled inverted V-12 engines, rated at 1,450hp each
Armament	2x20mm MG151 cannon, 2x7.92mm MG 17 machine guns, 2x13mm MG 131 machine guns, 1,000kg of bombs
Crew	2
Span	16.34 m
Length	12.12 m
Height	4.30 m
Wing Area	36.20 m²
Weight, Empty	5,440 kg
Weight, Maximum	8,100 kg
Speed, Maximum	620 km/h
Service Ceiling	7,000 m
Range, Normal	2,400 km

Photographs