page_title: Messerschmitt Bf 110
section_title: Operational service
hierarchical_section_title: Messerschmitt Bf 110 / Operational service
caption_attribution_description: A German Messerschmitt Bf 110 from Zerstörergeschwader 26 (3U+DT) with two 900l drop tanks.
context_page_description: The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110, is a twin-engine Zerstörer and fighter-bomber developed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110. It was armed with two MG FF 20 mm cannon, four 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns, and one 7.92 mm MG 15 machine gun for defence. Development work on an improved type to replace the Bf 110, the Messerschmitt Me 210 began before the war started but its teething troubles resulted in the Bf 110 soldiering on until the end of the war in various roles, with its replacements, the Me 210 and the significantly improved Me 410 Hornisse.
  The Bf 110 served with considerable success in the early campaigns in Poland, Norway and France. The primary weakness of the Bf 110 was its lack of maneuverability, although this could be mitigated with better tactics. This weakness was exploited when flying as close escort to German bombers during the Battle of Britain. When British bombers began targeting German territory with nightly raids, some Bf 110-equipped units were converted to night fighters, a role to which the aircraft was well suited.
caption: Bf 110 with twin 900 litre drop tanks with vertical fins, from 9.Staffel/ZG 26, on a Regia Aeronautica photo
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