Warplanes of Germany: Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me 264

Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerika Bomber

‍German warplanes of the Second World War: Messerschmitt Me 264

Deutsche Flugzeuge aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg: Messerschmitt Me 264

The aim of this website is to locate, identify and document Warplanes from the Second World War that have been preserved.  Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these aircraft to provide and update the data on this website.  Photos are as credited.  Any errors found here are by the author, and any additions, corrections or amendments to this list of Warplane Survivors of the Second World War would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at hskaarup@rogers.com.

Ziel dieser Website ist es, erhaltene Kampfflugzeuge aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg zu lokalisieren, zu identifizieren und zu dokumentieren. Viele Mitwirkende haben bei der Suche nach diesen Flugzeugen mitgewirkt, um die Daten auf dieser Website.bereitzustellen und zu aktualisieren. Fotos gelten als gutgeschrieben. Alle hier gefundenen Fehler sind vom Autor und Ergänzungen, Korrekturen oder Ergänzungen zu dieser Liste der Überlebenden des Zweiten Weltkriegs sind sehr willkommen und können per E-Mail an den Autor unter hskaarup@rogers.com gesendet werden.

(Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1989-039-16A / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

The Messerschmitt Me 264 was a long-range strategic bomber developed during World War II for the German Luftwaffe as its main strategic bomber. The design was later selected as Messerschmitt's competitor in the Reichsluftfahrtministerium's (the German Air Ministry) Amerikabomber (America Bomber) programme, for a strategic bomber capable of attacking New York City from bases in France or the Azores.

Three prototypes were built but production was abandoned to allow Messerschmitt to concentrate on fighter production and the Junkers Ju 390 was selected in its place. Development continued as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft instead. (Wikipedia)

(Luftwaffe Photos)

Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerika Bomber heavy bomber (prototype) in Luftwaffe service.

Late in 1943, the second prototype, Me 264 V2, was destroyed in a bombing attack. On 18 July 1944, the first prototype, which had entered service with Transportstaffel 5, was damaged during an Allied bombing raid and was not repaired. The third prototype, which was unfinished, was destroyed during the same raid.

Messerschmitt proposed a six-engine version, known as the Me 264/6m or Me 364, which was never built.

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(Sturmdivision CC BY-SA 4.0 Photos)

Messerschmitt Me 264 V1 in flight. The aircraft's original Junkers Jumo 211 inline engines (pictured here) were replaced with BMW 801G radials in late 1943.