German Fighter Plane

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was a German World War II fighter aircraft that was designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser around the early 1930’s. It was one of the first modern fighters of the time period. It included features such as all metal monocoque construction (type of body construction that doesn’t require a separate frame to provide structural strength or support for mechanical components), a closed canopy, a retractable landing gear, and was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted V12 aero engine. Although there were different productions of the model, the official Luftwaffe design of the aircraft remained as the Bf 109 throughout the whole war. Over the years, there were more than 100 variants of the very first design that were created. Larger and larger engines were being installed, along with hundreds of pounds of more additional equipment. Some of this equipment included 2,000 horsepower engines that had top speeds of 450 miles per hour.
The first time the Bf 109 series was introduced was with the German-manned Condor Legion units during the Spanish Civil War. These fighter planes replaced the Heinkel He 51 biplane fighter. Then in 1939 the Bf109 came out with the Bf 109E along with the Daimler Benz DB 601, another fighter plane. Early into the war the Bf 109E completely dominated the Polish PZL fighters. During the invasion in France in May of 1940, the Bf 109E completely outfought the French Morane-Saulnier MS 406’s and the British Hawker Hurricanes.
In the next year the Bf 109E series began to be replaced by the newer Bf 109F series in the 1040’s. The intention of this model was to counter the Spitfire. The Bf 109F series had an engine with increased horsepower and a much more streamlined airframe wand also had a cooling system. Over half of the Luftwaffe single-engine fighter units that were involved in the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 1941 flew the Bf 109F model. This Bf 109 model also was much stronger and had more superiority