Me 210/410 Zerstörer Units

Osprey Combat Aircraft #131

by Robert Forsyth, Jim Laurier (Illustrator)

This title tells the fascinating story of German airborne heavy weapons platform designs and the difficult history behind the types' development.

Intended as a progressive development of the twin-engined Bf 110 Zerstörer ("destroyer" or heavy fighter), the Me 210 first took to the air in September 1939. However, due to a lack of sufficient flight-testing before being declared service-ready, the Me 210 suffered from a less than satisfactory reputation in respect to its flight characteristics and weak undercarriage. After enhancements were made to the fuselage and wings, and the power of the plane was increased, the Me 210 became the Me 410 in late 1942.

By this stage of the war much was expected of the two types, which were forced to fly in very dangerous skies over North Africa and in the defense of the German homeland. Both aircraft were deployed as heavy fighters, fighter-bombers, reconnaissance platforms and interceptors, seeing service with a number of different units. The Me 410 was fitted with 30 mm cannon, 21 cm underwing mortars and the colossal 5 cm BK cannon that was intended to pack a punch against the USAAF's four-engined bombers which threatened the Reich in large numbers from 1943 onwards.

In this title, supported by contemporary photography and full-color artwork, Robert Forsyth tells the complex story of the Me 210 and 410, detailing their development and assessing their capabilities as combat aircraft.

96 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2019

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Reviews

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it's not news to aviation enthusiasts that the Messerschmitt Me 210/410 was a major debacle for the German war effort in WWII, these planes usually get treated as an afterthought, and I hoped that Robert Forsyth would examine the relevant issues with more precision. In that respect I was quite satisfied.

One, as to why what seemed like whimsical changes were made to Woldemar Voight's original design, a return to which were needed to make the machine viable, it mostly came down to Willi Messerschmitt's obsession with lightness in pursuit of speed. The problem being that this obsession destroyed the handling of the new plane, besides making it too fragile for serious war service.

Two, as to what its pilots really thought about the machine that eventually entered service, that was a very mixed bag. Yes, the greater speed was appreciated, but it really wasn't enough to enable the 410 to escape the machines it couldn't fight. It also still lacked survivability as compared to the Bf 110. And there was the small matter that the 410 was harder to bail out of if worse came to worse as compared to the 110, which was likely to happen by 1943/44.

Finally, I've always wondered about the flat statement that the Hungarians rather liked their license-built Me 210s. It turns out that the 210s built in Hungary were based on the originally intended dimensions, not the prototype that sacrificed everything for speed.

So, just when one thinks that there is nothing new to say about the Luftwaffe in English, Robert Forsyth comes through again for his readership.

[Roy Szweda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim lent me this the other week and a fine book it is too since I knew almost nothing about these aircraft and their troubled careers in the German and Hungarian air forces. It is well up to the usual standard of Osprey's CA series so it deserves a place in your collection. Overshadowed by its predecessor the Me 110 (which was preferred by quite a few who tried the 210) the first evolution was something of a failure which was still not fully put to bed by the 410 but by the time it was in the skies over Germany so was the Mustang and co.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2019, 'Me 210/410 Zerstorer Units' is number 131 in the very popular 'Combat Aircraft' series of booklets from publishers Osprey. In this volume, the subject is the troubled intended successor to the Me 110 series of heavy twin-engined fighter aircraft. To this end, a significant fraction of the book is devoted to the development of the type and the shambles that followed its premature introduction into service - whilst the book is devoted to the units that the type served with, it would be difficult to put this in the right context without a basic coverage of the development. The subsequent detail of the operational use of the type is very informative. Photos are, perhaps, not as numerous as in earlier entries in the series but they are good quality and extremely well captioned. As usual, a section of colour profile artworks is included. An interesting book about an oft neglected type.

[Randall Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overall read and informative about its subject.