ENGINEER

Willy Messerschmitt

1898 - 1978

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Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (German pronunciation: [ˈmɛsɐʃmɪt]; 26 June 1898 – 15 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer who designed a number of prominent aircraft for the Luftwaffe and civil aviation. Messerschmitt designed a number of successful motor gliders and airliners in the early 1920s until the BFW M.20 damaged his reputation, put his company into bankruptcy, and earned the hate of future Reich Aviation Ministry chief Erhard Milch. Messerschmitt rebuilt his company and produced a number of successful military aircraft for the Luftwaffe during World War II, until he was blacklisted from government contracts by Milch in 1941 and the Me 210 damaged his reputation again in 1942, forcing him to resign as direct and into a research and development role. Messerschmitt was accused of using forced labor for aircraft production and convicted of collaborating with the Nazi regime in 1948. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Willy Messerschmitt is the 28th most popular engineer (down from 26th in 2019), the 670th most popular biography from Germany (down from 597th in 2019) and the 5th most popular German Engineer.

Willy Messerschmitt was a German aircraft engineer who is most famous for his work on the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which was a fighter plane used by the Luftwaffe in World War II.

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Among ENGINEERS

Among engineers, Willy Messerschmitt ranks 28 out of 389. Before him are Artem Mikoyan, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Banū Mūsā, Leslie Groves, Hans Albert Einstein, and August Horch. After him are Bassel al-Assad, Hermann Oberth, Jiro Horikoshi, Philo of Byzantium, Albert Göring, and Lennart Torstensson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1898, Willy Messerschmitt ranks 36. Before him are Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Vicente Aleixandre, René Clair, Georges Dumézil, and Curzio Malaparte. After him are Joseph Murphy, Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois, Aloysius Stepinac, Peng Dehuai, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Lionel Robbins. Among people deceased in 1978, Willy Messerschmitt ranks 26. Before him are Umberto Nobile, Margaret Mead, John Cazale, Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, Kurt Student, and Ronnie Peterson. After him are Jomo Kenyatta, Houari Boumédiène, Hasso von Manteuffel, Sisavang Vatthana, Charles Best, and Harold Lasswell.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Willy Messerschmitt ranks 670 out of 7,253. Before him are Bruno Bauer (1809), Johann Franz Encke (1791), Heinrich Lübke (1894), Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine (1617), Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1861), and Karl-Otto Koch (1897). After him are Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (1862), Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1819), Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (1505), Klaus Fuchs (1911), Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern (1811), and Max Reger (1873).

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Among ENGINEERS In Germany

Among engineers born in Germany, Willy Messerschmitt ranks 5. Before him are Gottlieb Daimler (1834), Otto Lilienthal (1848), Fritz Todt (1891), and August Horch (1868). After him are Albert Göring (1895), Hugo Junkers (1859), Felix Wankel (1902), Ernst Heinkel (1888), Kurt Gerstein (1905), Arthur Scherbius (1878), and Walter Dornberger (1895).

German born Engineers

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