Messerschmitt Me 609

The Messerschmitt Me 609 was a short-lived World War II German project which joined two fuselages of the Me 309 fighter prototype together to form a heavy fighter. The project was initiated in response to a 1941 Reich Air Ministry requirement for a new Zerstörer (destroyer) to replace the Bf 110 that would use a minimum of development time and new parts. Messerschmitt's response was the Me 609, which would use the failed Me 309 project to form the basis of the new fighter. The company had actually contemplated numerous twin-boom adaptations of its Bf 109 line including the Bf 109Z (which joined two Bf 109s) and the Me 409 (which used two Me 209-II aircraft).

The Me 609 would have joined the two Me 309 fuselages with a new center wing section into which the two inboard wheels of the landing gear would retract. The Me 609 kept the Me 309's tricycle undercarriage which resulted in an ungainly 6-wheel arrangement. The Me 609 would have had its cockpit in the port fuselage, the starboard being smoothed over.

The finished project would have been used in both the heavy-fighter and high-speed bomber roles, but by the time designs were being ironed out the revolutionary Me 262 turbojet negated the need for further piston-engined fighter design.

Although its cobbled-together appearance might lead one to suspect this doubling of existing airframes was the move of a desperate design team, it should be noted that the North American P-82 Twin Mustang proved the efficacy of such an aircraft in Korea, where its superior speed and range made it one of the last piston-engined fighters to fight for the U.S. Air Force.