I wish for the Me210!
Yeah, somebody had to say it!
I'll tell you why: It's 90% visually similar to the Me410.
The Me210A's first 200 airframes or so were the short-tailed unstable ones. However, while tricky, they were still welcomed by pilots. The real issue was political infighting and engineers squabbling. The reputation it earns stems from this. The pilots at this time were quite skilled and they had no troubles landing (assuming the landing gear didn't collapse -- Messerschmitt got chewed out on that). They had more performance than the 110s of the time. Don't forget this airframe was in service in
EARLY 1942! For the time it was a big step forward over 110Ds/Es!
The Me210 received a number of changes including the longer tail and other fixes (including the leading edge slots, I believe) and the end result of the 210C is pretty close to what you get in the Me410. It has a 90% similar airframe and wing design.
Major changes:
- DB601F or DB605 engines, which are shorter (don't stick out as far) and less powerful
- Slower top speed and climb rate because of lesser power
- Less guns options -- it would be more of an attacker and less of a heavy fighter
Guns options would be basically:
2x7mm MG17, 1000 rpg
2x20mm MG151/20, 350 rpg
2x13mm MG131 in rear turret, ~500rpg
It would have the ability to carry 4x external 50kg bombs on racks as well as a number of mixtures internally:
(these are in addition to the external racks)
8x 50kg
1x or 2x 250kg
1x or 2x 500kg
1x 1000kg (not sure if it was used much, but the exact same bomb bay on the Me410 did)
It would very much be a recon or schnell bomber airframe, rather than a heavy anti-bomber airframe. The Hungarians did some nice things with guns in the bomb bay, very similar to the 410, but at the time the LW didn't have the need, and this came later with the 410.
So the only real visible differences are:
- shorter tail (remedied on 210 production after the first batch)
- shorter engine pods, slightly different shape
- wings outboard of the engines kink backwards, like C-47 wing does
- no slots creating difficult stalls (remedied on 210 production after the first batch)
So, we could get an early model difficult to handle and prone to spins/stalls, but when mastered would make a fast bomber for its time, with decent forward guns, or we could get the more representative 210 with slots and longer tail and would be more stable. Either way, it would be like adding a P-40F once you already have the P-40E.
P.S. For those that don't know the 410 was really just a 210 with better engines. It was going to be called the 210E or 210G or something, but to avoid the "history" with the squabbling over this airframe they just renamed it 410A. Messerschmitt's "do-over."
