AERO 114 Messerschmitt Bf 109E 6.díl – Šnajdr Miroslav (2024)

As the Battle of Britain faded in the autumn of 1940, one of the most important chapters in the extraordinarily rich history of the Messerschmitt Bf 109E also came to an end. However, on 'Emily,' now primarily represented by the Bf 109E-7 variant, a long career awaited in the Luftwaffe's arsenal. At the beginning of 1941, their operational activities expanded from Western and Northern Europe further south. Although the Mediterranean and North Africa represented a secondary operational area from the perspective of the German command, which was now preparing to attack Stalin's Soviet Union, the Bf 109E engaged in encounters here with remarkable success. In this part of the series, we will explore the deployment of German fighters in battles over Malta and North Africa during Rommel's attempt to seize the besieged port of Tobruk in the spring of 1941. However, the outcome of aerial battles in World War II was not decided solely in the cockpits of fighters but also in the factories of the aviation industry. Therefore, we will summarize the production of Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the year 1940 and compare it with the production of fighters in the United Kingdom.