Mmmm, nope, Me410 will never be the uber jabo the axis pilots are searching for....
410 was a great plane (as heavy bomber-buster),but a poor ground attack aircraft..
Because:
1)It has liquid cooled inline engines, too much vulnerable for ground attack, 1 rifle round is enough for shut off
2)Its powerfull supercharger gives it a fair top speed
but only at high alt and when not carrying any egg!(388mph at 22000 ft same as 109G6)..At low altitudes its peformance drops down.
3) as any big size aircraft me 410 is not suited for 80/90° divebombing.
4) The side rear firing Mg131 turret guns (barbettes) were delicate maintenance pieces and were not easy to handle, compromising gunner accuracy. The myth of their lethality was probably related to a single eppisode: a capable 410 gunner killed a famous American Ace, Cap. James Morris, with this guns.
All in all, Me410 as ground attack aircraft will be just average, if modelled properly.
Mainly for its average performance at low alt and high vulnerability.
Btw would be a great heavy fighter, and probably also a good fast level bomber (->have a look at the data about Me 410A-1 Schnellbomber added at the end of the post)
I've found some proofs of its weaknesses in action...
...my main sources are.."Airwar Italy 1944-45" and "Ground support operations of the Luftwaffe". The first is a very exhaustive late-war history of axis airforces in italy.
In that campain the me410 was used as recce and ground attacker by Stab/studmuffinr.122...
The story of this unit, coming out of flightlogs and losses reports, is a dramatic story...high losses, poor results...
The Me410 was ok when used as recce; but for ground attack missions, they considered it a coffin ...Too big and too slow: altough having a better handling than bf110s and 210s, it still was unable to outrun or otturn the allied fighters....The situation was worsened having gunners reporting the inaccuracy of the barbetted rear guns, especially when not manned by veteran experienced weapon system operators.
All of this could be exemplified by the description of one of the many 1944 studmuffinr.122 losses: over the Adriatic sea a single 410 was spotted by two lower spitfire 9s. The pilot decided to dive to deck in order to obtain enough extention from the interceptors. But one of the Spits persisted, managing to keep the german in visual contact, after some minutes of deck chase all the E was gone, and the faster spit started closing...Still the closing speed was slow, the gunner started frantically firing long bursts, but never managed damaging the spit....few seconds later the me410 was destroyed, killing both pilot and gunner.
Finally it was decided that the losses were too high in ground attack missions, mainly because the plane wasnt able to survive enemy fighter encounters, but also for its fragility and operative limits.studmuffinr 122 relegated its Me410s to strat. recce only.
In the same period and theather FW190F-8s were capable of going on with ground attack missions.
The main operative problems w/410 used for that job were that it was unsuited for 80/90° divebombing and thus had to come on target lower and evaded at slower speeds...410 ended its attacks lower and slower than the 190s, in this situation an enemy fighter bounce was something very close to a death sentence.
Ah, last but not least: its engines were extremely vulnerable! Even 1 single rifle-caliber round was enough to kill 1 of its DB603A inline liquid cooled engines..
And this is VERY BAD
for a ground attack aircraft...
Finally, the Daimler-Benz 603A, was very powerfull...But it was also very unrelyable...
This was the reason Messershmitt decided to not install it on his single engine series...Using it for a twin engined project instead, where you can rely on the other engine...But the 410 was not easy to fly with only one engine running...i ve discovered 2 me410s lost after engine failures in Italy in a 2 years operative period (in the same period no FW190s was lost for the same reason).
Me410 as a level bomber....
Messerschmitt Me 410A-1 Schnellbomber version
The first Me 410A-1 Schnellbomber (fast bomber) was delivered to the Luftwaffe in January 1943 with a fixed forward-firing armament of 2 × 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon and 2 × 0.312 in (7,92 mm) MG 17 machine guns, a defensive armament of 2 × 0.51 in (13 mm) MG 131 trainable rearward-firing machine guns in two remotely controlled barbettes on the sides of the fuselage immediately to the rear of the wing trailing edges, and provision for 2,205 lb (1.000 kg) of disposable stores in a weapons bay located in the lower part of the forward fuselage: this bay could carry 1 × 2,205 lb (1.000 kg) SC-1000 or SD-1000 bomb, or 2 × 1,102 lb (500 kg) SC-500 bombs, or 8 × 110 lb (50 kg) SC-50 bombs; the type could also be fitted under the wing roots with tandem pairs of Aussen-ETC racks for the carriage of an additional 4 × 110 lb (50 kg) SC-50 bombs. The bombs were aimed with the aid of a Stuvi 5B dive-bombing sight.
[ 09-02-2001: Message edited by: buscaglia ]
