Development of the Messerschmitt Me-110 K

As the stream of allied bombers over Germany became ever more intense, the Luftwaffe realized it lacked the fire-power to counter this threat. The bombers were hard to shoot down with the Me-109 and FW-190 and the Me-110 was too slow and heavy.

In an attempt to boost the performance of the Me-110, is was decided to produce a three engined version of the Me-110 Zerstörer. A prototype was built by converting an old c series aircraft. This was tested and showed some improvement over the two engined version.

Despite the rather small improvement it was decided to produce a further 24 aircraft. Of this 10 were built as K-1 fighters and 14 as K-2's. The difference lay mainly in the fact that the K-1 was based of old D-series airframes and the K-2 on the C-series.

During tests in 1944 is turned out that the added power of the third engine was mainly negated by the extra weight of the engine and the fuel needed to power it. Also the prop-wash of the middle engine had a deteriorating effect on the two outer engines. Operational trials were not very successful and the aircraft were withdrawn in early 1945.

Plans for a K-3 version, based on the Me-110G-4 were not carried out.

The Model

This is an old Matchbox kit of the Me-110, converted with an engine from a matchbox Me-109E.