One of the Luftwaffe's coolest looking aircraft and yet one that had massive development problems and never did live up to its promise was the Me-210/410 series of aircraft. It was an aircraft that seemed to go from one disaster to another; as much due to an inability of the RLM to decide just what to do with the plane as it was technical difficulties.

The Me-210 started out to be a replacement for the Bf-110 heavy fighter. It was also envisioned to be a high speed bomber and in this respect, it would have worked out just fine as it was nothing if not fast. However, it was also unstable and pretty much a danger to fly. It was also hampered by a very small bomb bay under the crew compartment that was unable to carry anything more than about 500 kg of bombs. Add to it that it was supposed to be a dive bomber as well so had that equipment installed.

But the biggest problem was its lack of stability. This was eventually cured by lengthening the fuselage, but still the plane had problems with landing gear and engines. So much so that production was halted and hundreds were left incomplete on the production line. 

This plane was replaced by the very similar, but much more successful Me-410, an aircraft that took all the fixes of the 210 and placed them into a single airframe. The 410 was produced in much greater numbers and used as a tactical fighter and recce bird until the end of the war.

With many, many variants, it is sometimes difficult to determine just what one is looking at in a photograph. This book tells the full developmental history of the Me-210/410 series of aircraft and provides the most complete production history of the aircraft yet done.

The production history section is listed by werke number and provides all the known codes and modifications done to each airframe as well as its fate. This is followed by an extensive photo section that has hundreds of superb photographs of 210s and 410s in combat. This includes pictures of Hungarian Me-210cas which were long fuselage 210s produced under license in Hungary. Each of the photos can be referenced back to specific werke numbers in the production listings, something that is nice to have and could be useful.

Also in the book are pilot stories surrounding the 210/410 and a number of excellent color profiles in photo section. All this makes for an outstanding reference on the type and since there is also a section taken from the tech manuals showing systems and detail bits, it is an equally useful book for the enthusiast/modeler. It is a book that I'm very glad to have seen be published and one that I can most highly recommend to you.

July 2007

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