Editing Messerschmitt (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Concentration camp prisoners at Messerschmitt factory.png|thumb|Concentration camp prisoners at Messerschmitt factory, c. 1943]]
During the war Messerschmitt became a major design supplier, their [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Bf 109]] and [[Messerschmitt Bf 110|Bf 110]] forming the vast majority of fighter strength for the first half of the war. Several other designs were also ordered, including the enormous [[Messerschmitt Me 321|Me 321]] ''Gigant'' transport glider, and its six-engined follow on, the [[Messerschmitt Me 323|Me 323]]. However, for the second half of the war, Messerschmitt turned almost entirely to [[jet engine|jet]]-powered designs, producing the world's first operational jet fighter, the [[Messerschmitt Me 262|Me 262]] ''Schwalbe'' ("Swallow"). They also produced the [[Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug|DFS]]-designed [[Messerschmitt Me 163|Me 163]] ''Komet'', the first [[rocket]]-powered design to enter service. Messerschmitt relied heavily on slave labour to produce much of the parts needed for these aircraft during the second half of World War II; these parts were assembled in an enormous tunnel system in [[Sankt Georgen an der Gusen]], [[Austria]]. Slave labour was provided by inmates of the brutal [[KZ Gusen]] I and Gusen II camps, and by inmates from nearby [[Mauthausen concentration camp]], all located near the St. Gorgen quarries. 40,000 inmates from Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, France, Russia, Hungarian Jews and twenty other nationalities were murdered during the production of these aircraft at [[KZ Gusen]]. Messerschmitt officials maintained barracks at the concentration camp to oversee the work being done by the inmates. Messerschmitt, and its executive [[Willy Messerschmitt]] also occupied the famed [[Villa Tugendhat]] in [[Brno]], [[Czech Republic]], designed by [[Mies van der Rohe]] and [[Lilly Reich]] in the 1920s; the Messerschmitt aircraft factory office and the [[Gestapo]] occupied the property during the war.

Messerschmitt had its share of poor designs as well; the [[Messerschmitt Me 210|Me 210]], designed as a follow-on to the 110, was an aerodynamic disaster that almost led to the forced dissolution of the company. The design problems were eventually addressed in the [[Messerschmitt Me 410|Me 410]] ''Hornisse'', but only small numbers were built before all attention turned to the 262. Later in the war, in competition with the [[Junkers Ju 390]] and the unbuilt, February 1943-initiated [[Heinkel He 277]], Messerschmitt also worked on a heavy ''[[Amerika Bomber]]'' design, the [[Messerschmitt Me 264|Me 264]], which flew in prototype form — with three prototype airframes built, the first of which flew in December 1942 — but was too late to see combat.