Me110s against RAF fighters.

[Stovepipe]

I was reading a recent issue of Flypast, which has a big feature on the Me110 and it churns out the usual cliche that the 110 was triumphant until they met the RAF in the Battle of Britain. Now, this statement annoys me because it is trotted out endlessly and is accepted as plain fact. It requires the reader to believe that the 110 was unbeatable by any else's single-engined fighters, such as the cannon-armed MS406, the D520, the P36 and even the RAF's own Hurricane I, which is not the case. It requires the reader to believe that the Zerstorer pilots were not aware of the weight and high wingloading of their own aircraft and it's consequent inability to dogfight with smaller, lighter single-engined fighters, as if the hundreds of combats(and associated losses) with Polish and French and RAF aircraft in the Polish and French campaigns didn't count or matter. I am assuming that Zerstorer pilots did carry out practise dogfights and fighter affiliation with Me109s and knew perfectly well what their 110s could do and not do. Personally, I think that it was the RAF's ability to best position and direct it's fighters with radar that enabled them to thrash the 110, especially unescorted long-range 110 flights.
I recall reading the Beaufighter WOP/AG, Sam Mc Aughtry's autobiography about his time in Beaus and he stated that the Beau crews were mortally afraid of German and Japanese SE fighters, as they knew that even an average fighter pilot could get behind a Beau easily and cut them down. He felt that they had an even chance in engaging the Me110 and Ju88 over the Bay of Biscay and coming out of it in one piece.

regards
Stovepipe