Messerschmitt Me 210/410 in Action

The planning for what would become the Me 210, began during 1937, when the Messerschmitt design team began work on a new heavy fighter-bomber to replace the Bf 110 which had revealed a number of shortcomings. The design, as envisioned by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, or R.L.M.. was to have been an improved version of the Bf 110, capable of undertaking the roles of heavy "destroyer", reconnaissance and dive-bomber, with more powerful engines and increased fire-power. Construction of the prototype was initiated during 1938 and the first aircraft, the Me 210 VI (radio code D-AABF. Werk Nr. 2100001). made its first flight on 2 Septemberl939.
The Me 210V-1 was a low-wing cantilever monoplane, with twin vertical tail surfaces, very similar to the earlier Bf 110. The fuselage profile; however, differed markedly from the earli­er fighter. The new aircraft had a very blunt nose and a squat fuselage with a bubble type canopy for the pilot and radio-operator.
It was powered with two 1,050 hp Daimler-Benz DB 601A-1 liquid-cooled engines. After the first test flights, the test pilot. Dr. Ing. Hermann Wurster, reported that the new aircraft possessed very bad flying characteristics, with poor lateral and longitudinal stability.