Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe

Thanks mainly to its Bf110G-4 night fighter, developed out of the original Zerstorer, the south-German company already had vast experience in the production and building of such specialised aircraft. At the same time the inherent inadequacies of the Bf 110 meant that Messerschmitt had to contend at first hand with all the problems and the ever rising demands of the night fighter war. The attempt to use the Bf110's successor, the Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet), in the night fighting role foundered on the latter's unsatisfactory performance; only a few examples of the type being employed on long range night fighter operations. The Augsburg team had considered a night fighter version of the Me 262 as early as 1943 but expensive trials to develop and perfect an audio search system came to nothing. In May 1943, as part of his effort to create a true multipurpose aircraft, Messerschmitt himself had put a proposal before the RLM outlining the P.1092E (P - Projekt, project), a specialised jet-powered night fighter based upon the Me 262. In this he was unsuccessful.