Messerschmitt aircraft you can see
| Type | First flew | Built | UK museums |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messerschmitt Bf 109E/G & Buchón | 1935 | ~34,000 | 7 |
| Messerschmitt Bf 110 & Me 410 | 1936 | ~7,300 | 3 |
| Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet | 1941 | ~370 | 2 |
| Messerschmitt Me 262A-2a | 1942 | 1,430 | 1 |
Messerschmitt in brief
The Bf 109, designed by Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser, first flew on 29 May 1935. About 34,000 were built, more than any other fighter. With the Bf 110 it made up most of the Luftwaffe’s fighter strength early in the war. The Me 163 rocket interceptor and the Me 262 jet fighter followed. The Me 210 was a costly failure. Parts were made by concentration camp prisoners in tunnels at St. Georgen an der Gusen, and many died.
Aircraft building was barred after the war, so the company made bubble cars and prefabricated houses. It merged with Bölkow in 1968 and became MBB in 1969. That line now runs through Airbus.
Museums holding Messerschmitt aircraft
| Museum | Messerschmitt types | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Air Force Museum LondonLondon, Greater London | 3 | Free | 88 | Avro Lancaster R5868 'S-Sugar' — 137 operations, the RAF's highest-scoring surviving heavy — under the same roof as a Vulcan, a… |
| Royal Air Force Museum MidlandsShifnal, Shropshire | 3 | Free | 78 | TSR-2 XR220, one of two survivors of the most gifted aircraft Britain ever cancelled, sharing floor space with the stainless-steel… |
| IWM DuxfordCambridge, Cambridgeshire | 2 | £29 | 146 | Concorde 101 (G-AXDN), the pre-production development aircraft and the fastest Concorde of them all at Mach 2.23 — plus an SR-71A… |
| Biggin Hill Heritage HangarWesterham, Greater London | 1 | £49 | 17 | A rotating dozen-ish airworthy and in-rebuild Spitfires plus a Hurricane and Buchón; the 'Sit in a Spitfire' add-on is the affordable… |
| Kent Battle of Britain Museum TrustFolkestone, Kent | 1 | £12 | 8 | Hawkinge is hallowed turf: the closest fighter station to France in 1940, now the Kent Battle of Britain Museum with the world's largest… |
| National Museum Of FlightNorth Berwick, East Lothian | 1 | £15 | 47 | Concorde G-BOAA, which flew British Airways' first commercial supersonic service in 1976 and arrived here by barge and giant road-crawl… |
| Spitfire Visitor Centre, Hangar 42, BlackpoolBlackpool, Lancashire | 1 | £12 | 6 | The Ops Room recreation and the £5 sit-in-a-Spitfire photography session — the cheapest Spitfire seat time in the country. |
| Yorkshire Air MuseumYork, North Yorkshire | 1 | £17 | 54 | Halifax 'Friday the 13th' — the world's only complete Halifax reconstruction, honouring the type that flew from this very field —… |
Frequently asked
How many Bf 109s were built?
About 34,000, from 1936 to April 1945. That makes it the most-produced fighter in history.
Were the Bf 109s in the film Battle of Britain real?
They were post-war Spanish-built Hispano derivatives of the Bf 109, which played the German fighters in the 1969 film.
What happened to Messerschmitt?
It merged with Bölkow in 1968, became Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in 1969, and later passed via DASA into Airbus.