Me 410: "on a knife's edge"

Eric Brown who test flew practically every aircraft of the war in "Wings of the Luftwaffe", described the twin engined Messerschmitt 410 as the most like "flying on a knife's edge" of any aircraft he had been in.

Around which axis? What did he mean, & why should the Me410 be like that?

[robert_schulte]

What are your sources

According to the German edition of this book, Eric Brown never got into contact with the Me 410.

[Lars Sundin]

It seems (after some googling) that the Me 210 was horrible but the Me 410 was better. How much better is difficult to say.

The 210 had a rather short fuselage and the slats arrangement was not the best it seems. The 410 was changed in these respects.

See Joe Baughers presentation on http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevo...her/me210.html

Lars Sundin

[Jukka Juutinen]

Brown´s report can be found in "Wings of the Weird&Wonderful, vol. 2".

[Jukka Juutinen]

Here is what Brown wrote in personal correspondence:"My comment on the Me 410 that it was "a real knife edger" means that it felt in flight as if it was finely balanced on a knife edge where ot could topple off into an area of risk due to its inherently dangerous flying characteristics...". In short, another gem from Willy M.

[Jon]

Also remember we Brits always compared Luftwaffe twin engined fighters against the Mosquito.... The Mosquito could fly perfectly well on one engine.

Most Luftwaffe twin engined fighters including the HE 219 and i would imagine the ME 410 would struggle.

[George Hopp]

It seems (after some googling) that the Me 210 was horrible but the Me 410 was better. How much better is difficult to say.

Here you need to be careful because there were two versions of the Me 210. The first, with the short fuselage was not a beginner's a/c, although a seasoned pilot could easily cope with it's vices, as noted by Johannes Kaufmann in "Meine Flugberichte 1935 - 1945." The longer fuselaged Me 210 was apparently the most vicefree of the series to fly, and suffered least from ground-loops on take-off and landing. Apparently, with its longer engine nacelles, the Me 410 began having that problem again, and quite a few a/c were damaged or written-off in take-offs and landings. Remember, the long-fuselaged Me 210 and the Me 410 were virtually identical except that the Me 410 had longer engine nacelles to house the DB 603A, and it had a straight spar, rather than the sweptback one of the Me 210. This was done for CofG purposes.

[Graham Boak]

I believe it is in Dr. Mankau's detailed history of the Ar.240, as published in Flugzeug magazine, and possibly elsewhere. I understand that Thierfelder was also a member of the comparative evaluation team at Rechlin in late 1942, where the Me.410, the He.219, the Ju.88G and the Ar.440 were judged: the resulting report (January 1943)being quoted as to the advantage of the Ar.440.

As for the presence of Bf.110 in day fighter units in 1943 - given that the Me.410 only began mass deliveries at the start of 1943, this is hardly surprising, but says little about the production intentions in the same period.

[Evgeny Velichko]

Graham:

As for me, I was wonder, what was the reason for Thierfelder's transfer from Eastern Front (I./ZG26 and later II./ZG2) to Africa (III./ZG26). VVERY uncommon transfer in Zerstorerwaffe.

Now, with Your additions, I know:
He went from II./ZG2 to Rechlin in late 1942, and then appointed to III./ZG26 in 1943.
THX for info.