Unlike other aircraft of the period, engineers settled on a retractable, wheeled tricycle undercarriage arrangement that included the usual nose leg and a pair of main members (these one under each nacelle).
Production of a trio of prototypes was started by Messerschmitt in early-1939. However, progress of the project was derailed by the arrival of war with the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939. This soon led to the Olympics of 1940 being cancelled as a result and the need to further the Me 261 as a record-setter waned while the war drew to become a slugfest for Germany and its neighbors. Its fortunes changed some by the middle of 1940 for thought had now turned to finishing the still-in-development Messerschmitt design as a long-range fast-reconnaissance platform. Work was restarted with the new goal in mind before the fall.
On December 23rd, 1940, the first prototype, V1, was completed and flown for the first time by Messerschmitt. The second prototype followed into the air in early-1941 and this example was flight-tested into 1943. The V3, adding two additional crewmembers and switching to paired DB605 engines (collectively becoming the "DB610" power unit), was test-flown for the first time on April 16th, 1943. This example managed an endurance of 2,800 miles in ten hours during one test which made it an unofficial endurance record at the time (never verified internationally due to the war).
Specifications surrounding the V3 included an overall length of 54.8 feet, a wingspan of 88.1 feet, and a height of 15.5 feet. Its flight crew numbered seven total personnel. The Daimler-Benz DB610A/B 24-cylinder inverted-Vee engines gave 2,900 horsepower output and propelled the airframe to a maximum speed of 385 miles per hour out to a range of 6,850 miles. Its service ceiling was recorded at 27,100 feet.
Both the V1 and V2 prototypes ended their days on the scrap heap for, in 1944, both were damaged by Allied aerial bombs during a raid on the Luftwaffe base at Lechfeld where they were parked. The V3 crash-landed in July of 1943 when its portside leg suffered a hydraulics failure upon landing but was repaired at Oranienburg. This specimen was reportedly used in action for a short time by the desperate Luftwaffe in the long-range reconnaissance role - though presumed scrapped before the end of the war which arrived in 1945.
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