The Messerschmitt Me 310 was a
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 ...
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 ...
heavy fighter
A heavy fighter is a historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons, and/or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-eng ...
of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was a project to save the aerodynamically troubled
Me 210
The Messerschmitt Me 210 was a Nazi Germany, German heavy fighter and ground-attack aircraft of World War II. Design started before the war, as a replacement for the Messerschmitt Bf 110, Bf 110. The first examples were ready in 1939, but they ...
.
Design and development
The armament was to be the same as the Me 210 A-1: two 20 mm
MG 151/20 cannon
The MG 151 (MG 151/15) was a German 15 mm aircraft-mounted autocannon produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. Its 20mm variant, the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, was widely used on German Luftwaffe fighters, night fighters, figh ...
, two 7.92 mm (.312 in)
MG 17 machine gun
The MG 17 was a 7.92 mm machine gun produced by Rheinmetall-Borsig for use at fixed mountings in many World War II Luftwaffe aircraft, typically as forward-firing offensive armament. The MG 17 was based on the older MG 30 light machine gun, ...
s, and two remotely controlled, rearward-firing 13 mm (.51 in)
MG 131 machine gun
The MG 131 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr'' 131, or "Machine gun 131") was a German 13 mm caliber machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945. The MG 131 was designed for use at fixed, flexible or ...
s.
A single aircraft was built by converting Me 210 V13 (code GI+SQ). It had a
pressurised
{{Wiktionary
Pressurization or pressurisation is the application of pressure in a given situation or environment.
Industrial
Industrial equipment is often maintained at pressures above or below atmospheric.
Atmospheric
This is the process by ...
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 ...
and was powered by two 1,380 kW (1,850 hp)
Daimler-Benz DB 603
The Daimler-Benz DB 603 was a German aircraft engine used during World War II. It was a liquid-cooled 12-cylinder inverted V12 enlargement of the DB 601, which was in itself a development of the DB 600. Production of the DB 603 commenced in ...
A
inline engines. The Me 310 first flew on 11 September 1943, but the project was cancelled later the same year, as it showed hardly any aerodynamic improvement over the Me 210. A subsequent prototype, the
Me 410
The Messerschmitt Me 410 ''Hornisse'' (Hornet) is a German heavy fighter and ''Schnellbomber'' used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Though an incremental improvement of the Me 210, it had a new wing plan, longer fuselage and engine ...
, showed sufficient improvement in its aerodynamics to be put into production.
[Mankau, Heinz. "Messerschmitt Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410: an illustrated history". Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub., 2003. ]
Specifications (Me 310)
See also
References
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_me_310.html
Me 310
1940s German fighter aircraft
Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany
Low-wing aircraft
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
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