In numbers the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was Germany's most important fighter during WW II. It was fighting most of the air battles until 1941 when the Luftwaffe got the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in its ranks.

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was a World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt in 1934 to give the Luftwaffe its first modern fighter with an all metal self-supporting airframe with a low placed wing, retractable gear and closed cockpit.

The first prototype flew in May 1935 with a 518 kW Rolls-Royce Kestrel line-engine, soon to be replaced by a 455 kW Junkers Jumo 210A witch the plane was designed for. The exact number of the Bf 109 build is not known because of the foreign production (like in Spain) but it should be somewhere around 30.500 airframes. The Bf 109A, B and C were produced in small numbers, and where used for development of different weapon variations and many different types of the Jumo 210 engine by Junkers.

In the Bf 109D the Daimler-Benz DB 600A engine was introduced, and cleared the way for the first largely produced type the Bf 109E witch was build in many different versions up to the Bf 109E-9 with the 820 kW DB 601A.

The Bf 109F came out with a more refined hull and less weaponry, it was powered by the DB 601E or N in versions up to Bf 109F-6.

The most important production model was the Bf 109G with the DB 605 line-engine en pressured cockpit, it was build in versions up to the Bf 109G-16.

During the war relatively small numbers of the Bf 109H appeared as high altitude fighter with a larger wingspan.

The Bf 109K was an improved version of the Bf 109G with a DB 605 line-engine in versions up to Bf 109K-14.