MESSERSCHMITT BF 109 - EL AVION CON MAS DERRIBOS DE LA HISTORIA

Video from the channel Larga vida a los tops about Messerschmitt Bf 109, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:28. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

First part of a review of the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the German fighter of the Second World War, focused on its origins and its performance in the campaigns in Poland, the Netherlands and France in 1939 and 1940.

The Bf 109 won the competition against the Heinkel 112 to give the German air force its first modern fighter: all-metal, low cantilever wing, retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. After its debut in the Spanish Civil War, it was the backbone of Luftwaffe fighter aviation until the end of the war, complemented but never fully replaced by the Focke-Wulf 190. At first it served alongside the twin-engined Bf 110, which was eventually relegated to night fighter duties.

In Poland, its higher speed let German pilots choose when to attack against a defense of fewer than 200 fighters; after the first week it switched to ground attack. Replacing the wing-mounted MG 17 machine guns with 20 mm MG FF cannon improved its firepower and raised the top speed from 537 to 560 km/h. Over Dunkirk it faced the Spitfire for the first time on 23 and 24 May 1940, and the evacuation allowed around 340,000 Allied soldiers to escape.