Messerschmitt

Messerschmitt The Messerschmitt was the most famous German fighter plane in World War II. Wilhelm (better known as Willy) Messerschmitt (1898–1978) was a German aircraft designer, engineer, and industrialist. He made and flew his own plane at age fifteen. By the time he reached twenty-six, he had formed his own aircraft manufacturing company.

Messerschmitt was best known for the airplanes he produced for the Luftwaffe in World War II. More then 30,000 of his ME-109 single-engine fighter planes were built; these fighters gave the Luftwaffe air supremacy during the early part of the war. Messerschmitt's ME-262 was the first operational combat jet.

After the war, Willy Messerschmitt was examined by an Allied denazification court in 1948. The court found that he had been forced to build aircraft for the German war effort. For the next ten years, Messerschmitt and his company manufactured prefabricated houses and sewing machines. They resumed building airplanes in 1958.