Messerschmidt Bf 110 (also known as Me110) was the same as the Luftwaffe's first-line fighter at the outbreak of World War II in 1939. The aircraft performed well in many battles in Poland, Norway, Denmark, western Europe and so on in the early stage of the war, giving full play to the advantages of multi-role fighters, and achieving great results in both air combat and ground attack. In particular, during the Battle of Deutsche Bay on 18 December 1939, nine of the 12 British bombers that were shot down were destroyed by the Bf110 of the 76th Destroyer Wing, which further strengthened Goering's confidence in the destroyer forces. However, in the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, the Bf 110 suffered a nightmarish loss, and the twin-engine heavy fighter proved to have no chance of winning in the fight with the single-engine light fighter, and a large number of Bf110 became the prey of the British Hurricane and Spitfire fighters, especially on August 15, a total of 28 Bf110s were shot down, including two captains of the 76th Destroyer Wing. When the Battle of Britain began, the Luftwaffe put in 237 Bf110s, resulting in 223 losses, a loss rate of up to 94%!
Despite heavy losses in the Battle of Britain, the Bf 110 was active in the Balkans, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1942. On the first day of Operation Barbarossa, the destroyer forces claimed 51 air victories, and in the ground attack operation, the Bf110 was even more handy, destroying a large number of ground targets. For example, Lieutenant Johannes Kiel from the 26th Destroyer Wing claimed 20 air victories and destroyed 62 aircraft, 9 tanks and 20 artillery pieces on the ground, in addition to 1 submarine and 3 motor boats, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross. However, in the face of intensive anti-aircraft artillery fire, the Bf110 is still quite fragile, the losses are large, and it can only be effectively fought if it has air superiority on its own. After 1942 , most of the Bf110 was withdrawn to Germany to participate in home air defenses.
In early 1943, as the U.S. Army began a massive daytime bombing operation, the Bf 110 was also put into combat against the Allied Air Fortress, many of which came from night troops. Theoretically, the Bf110 can pose a serious threat to heavy bombing agencies with its strong firepower, but in fact, in the face of the B-17's dense formation and fierce defensive firepower, the Bf110, which lacks agility, is difficult to achieve results, but it has suffered great losses, at most it can only pursue those single bombers that have fallen behind, and after the appearance of Allied escort fighters, the Bf110 is even more difficult to overcome, and withdrew from daytime air defense battles in early 1944.
However, the Bf 110 was very successful as a night fighter, playing this role as early as 1940, with a spacious cockpit and large interior space that made it easy to add night aircraft equipment, armament and the addition of a crew member. After the British expanded the scale of night bombing in 1942, the Bf 110's night combat mission became very heavy, and the special night combat Bf110 equipped with airborne radar and oblique-fire weapons was also developed to become the core force of the Luftwaffe night combat force, and 2750 British bombers were shot down by the Bf110 in 1943 alone. Although the Luftwaffe was also equipped with Night War models such as the Do17, Ju88, and He219, none of the aircraft's achievements could be compared with the Bf 110, and until the end of the war it was the most feared enemy of the Allied night bombers.
During the war, the troops using the Bf110 produced quite a few aces. Fifteen pilots shot down more than 20 enemy aircraft in the daytime destroyer unit, the highest of which was Major Eduard Tratt of the 26th Destroyer Wing, who won a total of 38 air victories, including 4 B-17s and 5 P-38s, in addition to destroying 24 tanks and 26 aircraft on the ground. Naturally the number one ace in the Night Troops, Schnaufer, had a record of 121 aircraft, all of which were achieved on the Bf110. However, the most famous Bf110 pilot was Rudolf Hess, deputy head of the Nationalist Social Party, who flew a Bf110 alone to Britain on May 10, 1941, "in search of peace", leaving a mystery.