what is it?
The Messerschmitt Me 265 was a design project for a Zerstörer (“Destroyer;” heavy fighter), produced by leading German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt in World War II.
How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 17.4 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- Top speed is 5.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 17.4 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 2,000 km: 11× Amsterdam to Brussels.
- Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- —
- number built
- —
- role
- aircraft
- makers
- Messerschmitt
- engines
- 2× Daimler-Benz DB 603
- crew
- 2
- length
- 10 m
- wingspan
- 17.4 m
- max take-off weight
- 11 t
- top speed
- 675 km/h
- range
- 2,000 km
- ceiling
- 9,500 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2027895, Wikipedia: Messerschmitt Me 265 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.