Messerschmitt Me 609

Me 609

Picture - A 3D computer model of the Me 609.

Role: Heavy fighter
Manufacturer: Messerschmitt
Status: Unrealised project
Developed from: Messerschmitt Me 309

The Messerschmitt Me 609 was a short-lived World War II German project which joined two fuselages of the Me 309 fighter prototype together to form a heavy fighter. The project was initiated in response to a 1941 Reich Air Ministry requirement for a new Zerstx¶rer (destroyer) to replace the Bf 110 that would use a minimum of development time and new parts. Messerschmitt's response was the Me 609, which would use the failed Me 309 project to form the basis of the new fighter. The company had actually contemplated numerous twin-boom adaptations of its Bf 109 line including the Bf 109Z (which joined two Bf 109s) and the Me 409 (which used two Me 209-II aircraft).

The Me 609 would have joined the two Me 309 fuselages with a new center wing section into which the two inboard wheels of the landing gear would retract. The Me 609 kept the Me 309's tricycle undercarriage which resulted in an ungainly six-wheel arrangement. The Me 609 would have had its cockpit in the port fuselage, the starboard being smoothed over.

The finished project would have been used as both a heavy fighter and high-speed bomber, but by the time designs were being ironed out, the revolutionary Me 262 turbojet negated the need for further piston-engined fighter design.

Specifications (Me 609, as designed)

Data from

General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot
Length: 9.72 m (31 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 15.75 m (52 ft 6 in)
Height: 3.43 m (11 ft 3 in)
Empty weight: 5,247 kg (11,660 lb)
Loaded weight: 6,534 kg (14,520 lb)
Powerplant: 2x— Daimler-Benz DB 603, () each

Performance

Maximum speed: 760 km/h (472 mph)

Armament

Guns: 2 x— 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 103 cannons
2 x— 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons
Bombs: 500 kg (1,102 lb) of bombs

Related development

Bf 109
Me 209
Me 209-II
Me 309
Me 409
Me 509

Comparable aircraft

P-82 Twin Mustang
Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling ("Twins")

Messerschmitt Me 609 Pictures

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Source: WikiPedia