The Fw 190 easily outmatched the British Spitfire that it spent much of the early years of the war fighting against. While it lacked the high altitude abilities of the Me 109, it was a superior plane at lower heights, and gained considerable respect as a result. The second most produced German fighter of the war, more than 20,000 Fw 190s were made from 1941 onwards. What the Me 109 had in numbers, the Fw 190 made up for with the fact that its pilots loved to fly it. Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Editorial Team Focke-Wulf Fw 190 – by Clemens Vasters Much of the production of the planes was done by concentration camp laborers. However, for all the advantages that the Me 109 carried, it did have one particular point that should be kept in mind. The three top German aces were all Me 109 pilots, and Allied airmen were quite jealous of the capabilities that the plane offered. Nearly 34,000 Me 109s were built throughout the course of the war, with licensed models adding another 1,500. While originally designed in the 1930s, the Me 109 was such a versatile fighter that it remained in use by other countries (including Israel) well after the war. Messerschmitt Bf 109 Editorial Team Messerschmitt Bf 109īy far the most successful German plane of the war, the Me 109 made up the plurality of German fighter planes throughout much of the war. As a result, the Germans were able to soon build fighters that were well beyond their time and unlike anything the world had seen before.ġ. However, as the supply crisis became more acute, German designers had to fall back to their comparative advantage as some of the best engineers in the world. To that end, it is not surprising that Germany fielded some of the best fighter planes of WW2, and until supplies were finally choked off in the middle of the war, could build them in incredible numbers. Additionally, the propaganda of a shiny new air force played well to German audiences. The Luftwaffe, or German Air Force, had long been a central part of Germany’s plans for the future.Īfter all, prominent Nazi leader Herman Goring had been a war hero of the First World War and felt that it was through the air that wars could be won. German designers drew upon decades of manufacturing and engineering excellence when designing weapons, and their fighter planes were no exception.
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