Encyclopedia > Messerschmitt

  Article Content

Messerschmitt

The Messerschmitt story begins with Professor Willy Messerschmitt joining the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke[?] in 1927 and forming a design team that repeatedly pushed the boundaries of aircraft performance, their Bf 108[?] Taifun and Bf 109 designs setting records and winning competitions in the second half of the 1930s.

Messerschmitt AG was incorporated as a separate company on July 11, 1938, with Willy Messerschmitt as chairman and managing directory, and produced many innovative aircraft for wartime Germany, including the Me 262 Schwalbe, the world's first jet fighter aircraft used in combat, and the rocket-powered Me 163 Komet.

Other Messerschmitt aircraft included the Bf 110[?] twin-engine fighter-bomber, its less-effective successor Me 210, the Me 410 Hornisse, the enormous Me 321[?] Gigant transport glider, and its six-engined follow on, the Me 323[?]. See the list of military aircraft of the Luftwaffe.

After WW2 the company wasn't allowed to make aircrafts so they looked at alternatives and came up with the three wheeled motorcycle/bubble car KR200[?]. According to an urban legend it's made with old aeroplane parts. It isn't true but since it was designed by aircraft engineers it's probably no coincidence it looks somewhat like an aeroplane.

Later Messerschmitt AG became Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm, and in 1989 was taken over by Benz Aerospace AG[?].



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Islandia, New York

... families residing in the village. The population density is 529.3/km² (1,369.6/mi²). There are 1,031 housing units at an average density of 178.5/km² ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 40 ms