You Say "Bf-109" I Say "Me-109"...

[Vraciu]

I have ALWAYS called it the ME-109.  I understand it was a Bf and the story behind it.   (ME is easier to say so maybe that's why I do it, I don't know.)

Additionally, Messer and the RLM used both terms starting around the time of the ME-109E or F so I think it is my choice.

Discuss. 

[MiloMorai]

Bf sounds like barf.

I can understand the Me with all the snowflakes these days.

[PR3D4TOR]

Both are correct and used interchangeably from 1938 onward, but only for the 108, 109 and 110. Later Messerschmitt planes are ME only.

[Zimme83]

The correct and official name is Bf-109 but "Me" was used even by the Germans so feel free to use anyone of them. Bf stands for  Bayerische Flugzeugwerke and Me for Messerschmitt.
At some point they changed the designation system from the Manufacturer to the designer. Ta-152 is another example, After Kurt Tank, instead of getting the usual Fw as the other members of the 190 family.

[PR3D4TOR]

No, they didn't change the designation system. Willy Messerschmitt took control over Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in 1938. He changed the company name to Messerschmitt AG, and thus the designation changed.

[Zimme83]

Thats true but still: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RLM_aircraft_designation_system#Name_changes_and_new_constructors

Another change in the system was the gradual replacement of the two-letter prefix for the constructor with a prefix for the designer. Almost from the beginning the RLM used an elaborate system of licence-building and subcontracting to maximize its output of huge numbers of relatively few types of 'standard equipment' airplanes. Initially, the factory that designed the plane maintained the biggest share of that planes production. With the war proceeding, the Luftwaffe's need for fresh airplanes quickly outpaced the capacity of the original manufacturers, certainly with its factories now regularly being bombed by the Allies. As a result, the connection between aircraft and original manufacturer eventually lost its significance. Aircraft were now built by a variety of factories often without any links to the constructor whose name it bore. Furthermore, aircraft engineers and designers, a hot commodity for a constructor and therefore aggressively courted and headhunted, were famous for their tendency to leave one company for the next bigger one every few years. Finally more and more of them started their own aircraft development company under their own name. The RLM followed suit by giving their products a two-letter designation reflecting the designer's name rather than the constructor he (originally) worked for. To further complicate things, those new design bureaus were often assigned ranges of aircraft numbers formerly assigned to other constructors but unused. Thus when Focke-Wulf's chief designer Kurt Tank founded his own design bureau he got assigned the prefix Ta and the numbers 151 through 154. As a result, the further development of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 became the Tank Ta 152 but remained commonly known as the Focke-Wulf Ta 152.

[PR3D4TOR]

Much later, near the end of the war. The Ta 152 was the first (to my knowledge) to be named after the designer rather than the company. The late-1944 190D was still designated Fw.

If you read a bit further up on that wiki article you posted:

"Bayerische Flugzeugwerke ("Bavarian Aircraft Works") was founded in 1926 out of the bankrupt remainder of former Udet Flugzeugbau. Originally producing its legacy of Udet-designed sportsplanes, it later went on to secure the services of Willy Messerschmitt, not as a chief engineer but as a free-lance designer. Thus BFW in Munich and Augsburg would produce and distribute designs from Flugzeugbau Messerschmitt in Bamberg. For some reason, (and also in part because of a deep personal animosity between Willy Messerschmitt and State Secretary of Aviation Erhard Milch) the RLM awarded the manufacturers designation not to Messerschmitt but to the BFW firm, and thus Messerschmitt's record-setting four-seat sportsplane design, the M 37, was produced as the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 108. Dissatisfied with this settlement, Messerschmitt himself used the money from the sales of his designs to buy a tract of land in Regensburg, founded the Messerschmitt GmbH aircraft factory and planned (or threatened) to start aircraft production on his own. Forced to choose between giving Messerschmitt his due and becoming a pure subcontractor, on 11 July 1938 the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke took on Messerschmitt as chairman and managing director, took over the Regensburg plant and renamed itself the Messerschmitt AG. The RLM assigned this 'new' aircraft firm the designation prefix of Me. The first aircraft to benefit from the change was the Me 210. Nevertheless, the three production contract aircraft designs from the earlier Bayerische Flugzeugwerke firm in Germany, the Bf 108, Bf 109 and Bf 110 officially kept their "Bf" prefix, due to their pre-July 1938 origins, until the end."

[Denniss]

The Fw 190D was probably considered "a 190A with different engine" whereas the Ta 152 was extensively modified from the Fw 190 and considered to be something new.
BTW don't forget the mid'44 Ta 154

[PR3D4TOR]

Good point. Seems like 1944 was the year. Though there was very little difference between late Doras and the 152C (except in engine). The Fw production line was continually updated with Ta 152 changes.

[Devil 505]

Good point. Seems like 1944 was the year. Though there was very little difference between late Doras and the 152C (except in engine). The Fw production line was continually updated with Ta 152 changes.

There is a huge difference between the two - placement of the cockpit. Much farther back on the Ta-152

[PR3D4TOR]

No, it's the wings that have been moved a few inches forward to balance out the longer nose (different engine). The fuselage and tail section are virtually identical. April-May 1945 built Doras would also have the Ta's updated tail with the bigger stabilizer.

[Devil 505]

No, it's the wings that have been moved a few inches forward to balance out the longer nose (different engine). The fuselage and tail section are virtually identical. April-May 1945 built Doras would also have the Ta's updated tail with the bigger stabilizer.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

6 of one, Half-dozen of the other. Point is that the forward half of the plane is entirely different despite looking similar at a glance.

[PR3D4TOR]

Yet there are even more differences between a 190A and 190D.

[MiloMorai]

Both the Dora and H used the Jumo 213 engine.

[PR3D4TOR]

That's like saying the Spitfire I and IX both had Merlins.

The Dora's 213A has simple single-stage two-speed supercharging. The 152's 213E has a three-speed two-stage intercooled supercharger making the engine longer and heavier.