The Messerschmitt Bf.110G was manufactured in many variants:
- Bf.110G-1: The planned fighter-bomber version of the regular Bf.110G. After checking that the Bf.110F-1 was similar in performance and production was therefore, abandoned.
- Bf.110G-2: The Zerstörer version of the Bf.110G and the first one to enter production. Earlier versions were armed with four 7.9mm MG 17 in the upper nose and two 20mm MG FF/M cannons in the lower nose. There was a defensive 7.9mm machine gun in the observer position facing backwards. Soonly later, the armament was improved. Nose cannons were replaced by the 20mm MG 151/20 cannons and the observer's guns were replaced with a double MG 81Z. Many older models could be upgraded to this standard and received the denomination of Bf.110G-2/U1. It entered frontline service for the first time in January 1943 at the Eastern Front just in the aftermath of the fall of Stalingrad and the units equipped with this variant played an important part in slowing the Soviet advance down, as they served as ground attack aircrafts.
- Bf.110G-3: A long-range reconnaissance version. It was similar to the G-2 in terms of appearance but it had the lower guns removed and replaced by a RB 50/30 camera mounted in the rear cockpit. It entered production in January 1943 but it wasn't very used as it was quickly phased out by the Ju.88D and the Me.210/410 in the summer of that year. All of them were converted into G-2 and sent to reinforce Zerstörer units.
- Bf.110G-4: The most successful version of the G series. It was conceived since the very beginning to be a radar-equipped night-fighter. During 1944 and 1945 it would be equipped with a wide array of radar sets as they became available. Two-thousand and two hundred eight exemplars were manufactured between January 1943 and February 1945 at Gotha and Luthaerwerke factories. The original version was armed with two 20mm MG-151/20 cannons and four 7.92mm MG 17s and was equipped with a FuG.202 Liechtenstein radar which had to be updated constantly with the FuG.212 first and when it was jammed by the British, by a combination of the FuG.220 and the FuG.212. The G-4 allowed a wide variety of field modification kits to be carried allowing that way to fine tune the tune of weapons for the pilots to carry on their aircrafts, as well as increasing the range and endurance of the fighter. However, performance decreased in every case and, as the performance loss was much less noticeable during the night than the day, as they had to carry an extra crewman to operate the radar.
It saw action in most of the theatres of war that Germany was involved on being the first one the Eastern Front where the first unit to receive the G-2 was the I./ZG.1 which was based in Donets, close to Rostov. Soon after arriving to the frontlines, it was pushed into combat against Soviet tanks which were moving west from Stalingrad. The G-2 helped to slow down the Soviet advance but at a very high cost. The G-2 got quickly involved in the ground-attack role as the lack of enemy heavy bombers meant the lack of targets for a night-fighter. Anyway, as it was never present in large numbers, during the year 1943 all of them were withdrawn from the Eastern Front with one final unit remaining in Finland until early 1944.
All of the units withdrawn from the Eastern Front were assigned to the units protecting Germany from Allied raids. As the summer of 1943 saw a brief resurrection of the Zerstörer concept, when during the first six months the USAAF launched their first temptative daylight raids on Germany and occupied western Europe. However, between 18th July and 17th August, the Americans set-up nine large raids against important targets in Germany. In order to face them, the Luftwaffe pulled many Bf.110Gs from other fronts. They had their firepower upgraded and they faced the B-17 and the B-24 in the skies of Germany.
Initially, they inflicted serious losses to American bombers. However, the increasingly weight of the aircraft, meant that it would be very vulnerable to enemy fighter aircraft, specially against the newly appeared P-51, which appeared at the end of 1943 over Europe. The P-51 outclassed the Bf.110G in almost every aspect (except on the firepower and weight, aspects which were pointless as the Bf.110G simply couldn't hit them) and both the Bf.109G and the Fw.190 also had problems to fight it. The loss rate of the Bf.110G was unsustainably high with some units lossing almost the 50% of their effectives in a single day and during the first months of 1944 the Bf.110G dissappeared from the daylight skies over Germany. Some Zerstörer units were experimentally re-equipped with the Me.410 but that aircraft was also too vulnerable to Allied fighters which were slowly gaining the aerial supremacy over Germany.
The G-4 proved to be a significant improvement over their predecessors in the night-fighter role with the field modification kits being the solution for the aircrafts' main problem (low endurance and limited firepower) making it that way a very effective night-fighter. When the night-fighter units were temporarily transferred to day fighter duties, they suffered high losses, but, on the other hand, they were able to main their presence in the night time skies for most of the war. It found nonetheless itself vulnerable to Allied fighters, this time to radar-equipped Mosquitoes which raided deep into Germany. At the end of 1943 the German night-force was comprissed of Bf.110G, Ju.88 with a limited amount of Hs.129 coming into service. For the rest of the war, the Bf.110G-4 was the main and most effective German night fighter even if Allied jamming measures, daytime losses and combat losses at night slowly reduced the efectiveness of the German fighter.
Sources:
1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_bf_110G.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_110
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
No comments:
Post a Comment