The company
was founded in Ausberg in 1926 as the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke.
In 1931 the economic recession was biting hard and the Messerschmitt
FlugzeugbauGmbH company of Bamberg was formed to take over the
affairs of the former company. Things improved and in 1938 the
company was renamed Messerschmitt AG.
The plane
first saw the light of day in 1934 as the Bf109. The prototype
flew in 1935 and ironically was powered by a British 695 hp
Rolls Royce Kestrel engine. The first production model was the
Bf109B and saw action in the Spanish civil war. The early models
encountered many problems, the more serious of which were wing
flutter and tail buffeting. It took a several models to totally
eradicate this condition.
The Bf109B
had a 20mm cannon firing through the propellor (air screw).
The cannon was not reliable and was prone to seizing. In the
Bf109C model it was replaced by 2 machine guns mounted in the
wings. This only aggravated the wing flutter. The problem was
eventually solved by balancing the ailerons and stiffening the
leading edge of the wing.
With the
change of name to Messerschmitt AG came a change of model for
the plane. It was re designated Me109. The first plane to roll
off the production line was the Me109E which went to war in
September 1939.
The Me109
was continuously developed throughout the war from E to F and
G series, with many sub variants
