Me110 <3
Fufilled its role as a heavy fighter extremely well in the early war, and during the Battle of Britian, was untouchable by the British airforce if used in that role, though did get butchered when it was forced into an "escort fighter" role, which completely negated its boom and zoom tactics. In the end, there were two squadrons that used the Me110...one was used purely in boom and zoom ambushes, and took few losses with many, many kills, while the other was used as escort duties, and suffered extremely high casulties with few kills. After this, it was used in Africa and the Eastern Front, reprising its role as a heavy fighter and doing rather well, while the majority switched to the night fighter role, where it would excell, becoming the work horse of the German Night Fighter service, and scoring the most night fighter kills of any aircraft, being the plane flown by most of the top german night fighter aces, and generally became the top night fighter of the war (other designs could be said to be superior, but none ever matched its wartime record or its abilities in the hands of its crews). Also, it was used as a day light bomber "zerstorer", a task it preformed well until the introduction of the P51, where it was again shot down in droves. However, the night fighter types continued to rule the skies, with night time being the only part of the air war that the germans never lost control of, and that can almost all be placed at the foot of the Me110 <3.
Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, top scoring night fighter ace and Me110 ace with 121 confirmed kills.
And the tail section of his Me110, as preserved at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra; detailing all his kills
