The hybrid fighter was said to be faster than a Spitfire but more manoeuvrable than a Bf-109 NIK COLEMAN/PBS/BNPSWhen, in the Battle of Britain, Goering asked Major Adolf Galland what his unit would need to beat the British, the fighter ace replied: “Herr Reichsmarschall, a squadron of Spitfires!”This didn’t go down particularly well with “Fat Hermann”, the head of the Luftwaffe who had been extolling the Messerschmitt Bf-109 as “the best fighter of the world”. A couple of years later the Germans attempted to have their cake and eat it by creating a little-known Messerschmitt-Spitfire hybrid. Aviation historians have uncovered rarely seen photographs of the attempt by the Luftwaffe to combine the best elements of both aircraft. The aircraft mated a Daimler-Benz engine to the body of a Spitfire THE PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGESThe experiment came about when engineers in Germany modified a Supermarine Spitfire Mk V that had made a forced landing in occupied Jersey in November…

Source: The Times January 21, 2020 17:08 UTC