The success of Zerstörer units (Bf 110) in 1939 - 1941?

[durb]

The Bf 110 is usually regarded as a failure design due to its performance in the Battle of Britain. Spitfires and Hurricanes could fly circles around the clumsy and helpless "110" who struggled to survive in air combat.

The reputation of Bf 110 was perhaps somewhat worse than the plane actually deserved.

During the Polish campaign 1939 the Zerstörer units (ZG) made the most of air combat fighting and most of Polish aircraft shot down were credited to ZG units. Admittedly the PZL P 7 and P 11 were hardly fighters able to challenge effectively the Bf 110 in air combat. During the Scandinavian (Norwegian) campaign in 1940 the Zerstörer units were again in the main role - due to their longer range they were more fitted for the Scandinavian operations than Bf 109. To my understanding the Zerstörer units again made it well although there were not many air-to-air combats (and the main opponents were Gladiator biplanes).

I wonder how significant was the role of Zerstörer units during the Battle of France? How well did they make it against French Morane and Curtiss fighters in air-to-air combats? How many Allied bombers fell to the guns of Bf 110´s during the French campaign?

The Battle of Britain is seen as a turning point of the history of Bf 110 - that after it the days of Bf 110 as a day fighter were over and the plane was transferred to more fitting night fighter and ground attack roles.

However to my knowledge the Bf 110 was still used as a day fighter during the year 1941 - the first German fighters to fly over Malta (and North Africa?) were Bf 110´s and during the Balkans campaign the Bf 110 saw again some action as a day fighter. The Bf 110´s took part also in the shortlived Iraq campaign during 1941. Were the results decent for ZG units when taking in account the "loss/kill" -ratio in air combats of these war theaters?

Did Bf 110 see action as a day fighter also during the first months of Barbarossa campaign and how did it make against the Polikarpov fighters (I-16, I-153) and other Soviet planes?

[stg 44]

The BoB showed it wasn't able to be an escort fighter against SE interceptors. It was successful up until 1943-44 as a daylight bomber destroyer when not having to deal with escort fighters. It did fine as a light bomber too and was an excellent night fighter until late 1943-1944.
During the BoF it was able to be a good strafer thanks to the absence of radar early warning and it did do its job bomber destroying too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschm ... gn.2C_1940

During the Phoney War, a number of French aircraft were shot down by Bf 110s. ZG 1 Gruppenkommandeur Hauptmann Hannes Gentzen became the highest-scoring fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe on 2 April, when he shot down a Curtiss Hawk over Argonne.[17] For the attack on the Netherlands, 145 Bf 110s were committed under Oberst Kurt-Bertram von Döring's Jagdfliegerführer 2.[18] During the campaign, the Bf 110 demonstrated its capabilities as a strike aircraft. On 10 May, ZG 1 claimed 26 Dutch aircraft destroyed on the ground on Haamstede airfield. Between 11–13 May, most of the 82 aerial claims over Belgium were made by the Bf 110 equipped ZG 26.[19] However, this was tempered by the loss of nine Bf 110s against the RAF on 15 May.[20] By this date, Oberstleutnant Friedrich Vollbracht's ZG 2 claimed 66 Allied aircraft.[21]

The Bf 110 force also encountered the Swiss Air Force during this period. Several German raids violated Swiss airspace. About five Bf 110s were shot down by Swiss Bf 109s.[22][23] The Bf 110s participation in Fall Rot's Operationa Paula, an offensive to destroy the remaining French air forces in central France, was to lead to 101 losses for the Luftwaffe, of which just four were Bf 110s. No further losses of the type occurred for the remainder of the campaign.[24]

The campaign in the west that followed in 1940 demonstrated the Bf 110 was vulnerable in hostile skies. It performed well against the Belgian, Dutch and French Air Forces, suffering relatively light losses, but was quickly outclassed by increasing numbers of Hurricanes and Spitfires. In the Western Campaign, 60 were lost.[22] This represented 32 percent of the Zerstörerwaffe's initial strength.[25]

[Tony Williams]

The Bf 110 wasn't that helpless - its maximum speed was similar to the Spitfire and significantly higher than the Hurricane, although of course it would lose in a turning fight unless the rear gunner was very good or got lucky.

One interesting version was the C-6 which mounted a powerful 30mm MK101 cannon for ground attack instead of the two 20mm. One or two of those were shot down over England in August 1940.

[Urmel]

However to my knowledge the Bf 110 was still used as a day fighter during the year 1941 - the first German fighters to fly over Malta (and North Africa?) were Bf 110´s and during the Balkans campaign the Bf 110 saw again some action as a day fighter.

Certainly by the last quarter of 1941 I no longer have them used as day-fighters in North Africa. They were used as recce, LR escorts for Ju 52 convoys and submarine watchers/air escort for shipping convoys, and for ground attack.

[sitalkes]

The 110 did well as a bomber destroyer. During the Battle of the Heligoland Bight it was the 110 that shot down most of the British bombers. later in the war, even when bombers were escorted by fighters, Adolf Galland mentions in his autobiography how important it was for the single-engined fighters to pave a way for the 'destroyers' to get to the bombers, as they did most of the damage to the bombers.

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a complement: With cannons and machine guns at the controls of the destroyer Messerschmitt.
Source: Mit Kanonen und M.G's am Steuer des Messerschmitt-Zerstörers - Münchner Illustrierte Presse, 17. Jahrgang / Nr. 48, 28. November 1940.

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Sheldrake]

The Me110 was a pretty effective night fighter. The tail fin from Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer's Me 110 on display at the Imperial War Museum marks 121 kills.