Messerschmitt Bf.110 in service with the Luftwaffe. Part eight. Bf.110F and the Bf.110 in North Africa.

 

The Messerschmitt Bf.110F variant was developed shortly after the Bf.100E, so it was developed in parallel. It was powered by two Daimler-Benz DB.601F engines rated at 1,350hp each. It was equipped with increased armour for the crew with additional windshield armour, a protection layer that was retroactively fitted in earlier variants too.
As a matter of fact, the only external difference between a Bf.100E 'Emil' and a Bf.110F 'Friedrich' was the larger oil radiator, as the new engines required a larger cooling surface. Just as his predecessors, this variant was very versatile and came in many sub-variants identified by a numerical suffix, depending on the type of armament or role it was intended to play.

As we've written, the main Zerstörer unit to operate in North Africa and the Mediterranean was ZG.26, which operated from Trapani, in Sicily, with one Staffel based in Libya. 
When, the Allied launched Operation Torch on 8th November 1942, the landings on Morocco and Algeria, and also when British Forces attacked in Egypt and Libya after the Battle of El Alamein, the Axis forces retreated gradually to Tunisia. It was from that beleaguered region that the few Zerstörers still in service managed to score several kills against another twin-engined fighters like the American P-38 Lightning. 
After the fall of Tunisia on 6th May 1943, Axis troops withdrew completely from the African continent and so, III/ZG.26 was rebased to Rome-Ciampino airport in June 1943, where it was tasked with the aerial defence of the Italian capital against the daily USAAF raids. 
In the final days of the Battle of Tunisia, III/ZG.26 was reinforced with another Zerstörer unit, II/ZG.1, which was diverted from the Eastern Front and was based in Trapani, Sicily in April 1943. It was then moved quickly back to the Italian peninsula, where they remained until August, only to be moved to France, at Lanvéoc-Poulmic, in Brittany, to patrol the Bay of Biscay, before being sent back to Germany in November that same year.
From Rome, III./ZG.26 took part in the aerial fight against Operation Husky, the Allied Invasion of Sicily, supporting ground forces with strafing and fighter-bomber operations. Shortly before the complete Mediterranean island fell, they were called back to Germany to aid in the nocturnal defence of the Reich.

Sources:
1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action  1030 - Messerschmitt Bf-110 Zerstörer in Action
2nd Histoire & Collections - Avions et Pilotes 11 - Messerschmitt Bf.110 & Me.210-410 1939 -1945
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_110_operational_history