Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse 1/72 Scale Model

German Me 410A - This is a model of a heavy fighter that flew against American day bombers over Germany in 1944. The Me 410 was developed from the Me 210. The Me 210 was supposed to be a multi-purpose heavy fighter to replace the Bf 110. The first Me 210 prototype flew in late 1939, but its performance was poor. Development of the Me 210 continued, however, and it entered Luftwaffe service the following year, but the plane's performance was still unacceptable. In the meantime, Germany's Hungarian allies had been given a license to produce their own Me 210s, and they had implemented some design changes, inclding more powerful engines and a longer fuselage, that improved the plane's performance. The Germans incorporated some of the Hungarian improvements and added even more powerful engines and christened the new plane the Me 410. The Me 410A entered service in early 1943, and the Me 410B, with even better engines, joined the Luftwaffe in early 1944. The Me 410B was effective against against American day bombers because it could carry a variety of heavy armaments. But it was vulnerable to agile single engine fighters. By the fall of 1944 most Me 410s had been grounded due to the growing numbers of long range P-51 fighters escorting American bombers over Germany, and the need for the Luftwaffe to focus on putting up more single engine fighters.

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