[George Hopp]

Regardless of the W.Nr. of the aircraft, no short-bodied Me 210s ever went into combat. Although some short-bodied Me 210s were shown as crashing while part of an operational unit, they were, in fact, part of the OTU for the unit and were on conversion training to the Me 210. Johannes Kaufmann gives an interesting account of his time in this conversion unit in 1941-42 in his book, "Meine Flugberichte 1935 - 1945." He was satisfied with the short-bodied Me 210 as being more potent than the Bf 110, and was disappointed when he had to return to the Bf 110.

But, the short-bodied Me 210 had real problems with longitudinal stability during landing and take-off, and the people who had just come through the Zerstorer pipe-line couldn't handle this. Kaufmann, with his time on the Bf 110, had the air sense to overcome this problem and to really enjoy his time on the Me 210.

I have been asked to do a book on the Me 210/410 because I have been researching the aircraft for more than 30 years and have more test data that I could ever want, but would appreciate any material you might have on the work of the Me 210 in North Africa.

Thanks, and all the best,
George