The BFW M.31, sometimes known as the Messerschmitt M.27, was a radial-engined

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

two-seat sports plane from 1932, with a low, cantilever wing, open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

s and fixed

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

. Only one was built.

Development

In the late 1920s and early 1930s,

Willy Messerschmitt Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (; 26 June 1898 – 15 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. In 1934, in collaboration with Walter Rethel, he designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which became the most importan ...

, working at Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) produced a series of low-wing sports monoplanes with either one or two seats. These were the M.19, M.23, M.27, M.31 and M.35 with the M.23 the only one with sales of much over double figures. The ''M'', of course, stood for ''Messerschmitt''. Like the M.27, the M.31 had the same wingspan as the M.23c. Like the M.23b and M.27, it was a tandem two-seat open cockpit monoplane machine, with a low cantilever wing and braced tailplane. The fuselage below the decking was more rounded than on the earlier aircraft, being built out of two longitudinal panels per side rather than one, with the lower one angled inwards. The fixed undercarriage was without the spats of the M.27. It was powered by a neatly cowled radial engine driving the usual two-blade airscrew. Some considered it to be the most elegant of the series. The first flight was in 1932, and it was on display at the German Aerosport exhibition of 1933. No orders were placed and only the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

was built.

Specifications

References

;Citations ;Cited sources * * {{Messerschmitt aircraft 1930s German sport aircraft M 31 Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1932