The Messerschmitt P.1110 (Me P.1110) was a design for a single-seat, high-

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

, prepared for the German ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' by the

Messerschmitt Messerschmitt AG () was a German share-ownership limited, aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt from mid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in parti ...

aircraft manufacturing company, under the

Emergency Fighter Program The Emergency Fighter Program () was the program that resulted from a decision taken on July 3, 1944 by the Luftwaffe regarding the German aircraft manufacturing companies during the last year of the Third Reich. This project was one of the ...

during the last months of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

As part of the

(), at the beginning of 1945, a programme was launched by the OKL for a new generation of fighter/interceptor aircraft in order to replace the

He 162 He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

''Volksjäger''. The new aircraft was intended to have superior performance, in order to deal with high-altitude threats such as the

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...

. Messerschmitt designed a number of different high-altitude fighter projects which were submitted in February 1945. One of the designs, the Me P.1110 ''Ente'' (Duck), had a 40°

wing sweep A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Ge ...

and annular air

intake An intake (also inlet) is an opening, structure or system through which a fluid is admitted to a space or machine as a consequence of a pressure differential between the outside and the inside. The pressure difference may be generated on the ins ...

s in front of the wing root (similar to those on the post-war

North American YF-93 The North American YF-93 was an American fighter development of the F-86 Sabre that emerged as a radically different variant that received its own designation. Two were built and flown before the project was eventually canceled. Design and de ...

), feeding a single

Heinkel HeS 011 The Heinkel HeS 011 or Heinkel-Hirth 109-011 ''(HeS - Heinkel Strahltriebwerke)'' was an advanced World War II jet engine built by Heinkel-Hirth. It featured a unique compressor arrangement, starting with a low-compression impeller in the intak ...

A jet engine; the annular intakes, while flowing four percent less air, would produce fifteen percent less drag than a single nose intake. The aircraft was to be armed with three

MK 108 cannon The MK 108 (German: ''Maschinenkanone''—"machine cannon") is a 30 mm caliber autocannon manufactured in Germany during World War II by Rheinmetall‑Borsig for use in aircraft. Development The weapon was developed as a private venture by the c ...

in the nose, plus perhaps two more in the 40°-swept wings. There was also a proposed butterfly tail variant. Projected maximum speed was . Model of a Messerschmitt P

The project would be soon dropped in favor of the other two more conventional designs, but the

Junkers EF 128 The Junkers EF 128 was a project for a single-engine jet fighter, developed for the Emergency Fighter Program Luftwaffe design competition during the Second World War. The EF 128 was a tailless swept-wing design and was to have been powered by a ...

was chosen as the official winner of the competition and none of the Messerschmitt designs reached the prototype stage. The designs brought forward by other German aircraft makers were the Heinkel P.1078, the

Focke-Wulf Ta 183 The Focke-Wulf Ta 183 ''Huckebein'' was a design for a jet-powered fighter aircraft intended as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other day fighters in Luftwaffe service during World War II. It had been developed only to the extent ...

and the

Blohm & Voss P 212 The Blohm & Voss P 212 was a proposed jet fighter designed by Blohm & Voss for the Emergency Fighter Program Luftwaffe design competition during the Second World War. History In early 1945, a replacement was sought for the Heinkel He 162 ''Volksj ...

. A further development, the P.1111, with

wing root The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage,Peppler, I.L.: ''From The Ground Up'', page 9. Aviation Publishers Co. Limited, Ottawa Ontario, Twenty Seventh Revised Edition, 1 ...

s (a concept later adopted by the

Republic RF-84F Thunderflash The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak is an American swept-wing turbojet-powered fighter-bomber. The RF-84F Thunderflash is variant of the F-84F that was designed for photo reconnaissance. The design was originally intended to be a relatively simple ...

and

F-105 Thunderchief The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vietnam War. It ...

) to overcome the power losses and 45° sweep, was prepared in January 1945 but never built.

Variants

The Messerschmitt P.1110 project had at least three different designs, all of which were single-seat fighters with

swept wing A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Ge ...

s. Wings were swept back at 40 degrees and included mostly wood in their construction. All of the projected aircraft would be powered by a single

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

.German WW2 Secret Projects - Vol. 3
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Me P.1110/I

Jet-powered interceptor. It was a conventional looking design with the turbojet air intakes located on the fuselage sides. Its armament was three

s located in the nose, as in the following variant.

Me P.1110/II

V-tail The V-tail or ''vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraf ...

jet-powered interceptor with a conventional looking design. The air intake of the engine was of an annular shape located behind the cockpit. Like the Me P.1110/I, the Me P.1110/II had 40 degree swept-back wings.

Me P.1110 ''Ente''

The Me P.1110 ''"Ente"'' (

Duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

) was a more unusual interceptor project with its

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

located at the nose end of the plane. It had a canard configuration with small wings in the front and larger wings in the rear part of the fuselage. Its air intakes were located on the fuselage sides like in the Me P.1110/I variant. Its armament was four MK 108 cannon.

Specifications (P.1110 as at 12 January 1945)

References

External links

{{Messerschmitt aircraft Abandoned military aircraft projects of Germany P1110 World War II jet aircraft of Germany 1940s German fighter aircraft