Messerschmitt Bf.109 (German: Messerschmitt Bf.109, traditional spelling for the USSR - Me-109) is a single-engine low-flying piston fighter that was in service with the Luftwaffe and the Air Force of various countries for almost 30 years. Depending on the modification, it was used as a day fighter (including specialized low-altitude modifications and a family of high-altitude fighter versions), day and night fighter-interceptor, fighter-attack, fighter-bomber, photo-reconnaissance fighter, unarmed photo-reconnaissance (including high-altitude), as well as a training fighter. It was one of the two [1] main fighters of the Luftwaffe, the most massive German aircraft throughout World War II, and the most massive fighter in history. In terms of the number of machines produced (as of March 1945 only in Germany - about 32,500 units; total production - taking into account the release in April 1945, in Hungary, Romania, Francoist Spain in 1944-1958 and post-war Czechoslovakia -19 years - exceeds 33,000 copies [2] , there is also information that the total production of aircraft of the Bf.109 family amounted to 34,826 or even 34,852 copies) is one of the most massive aircraft in history, second only to the Il-2 attack aircraft (36,163 machines) [3] and the Cessna 172 Skyhawk light general purpose aircraft [4]. Sometimes you can find claims that the training aircraft, and later - including the U-2 (Po-2) night bomber, also surpassed the Bf.109 in terms of production (numbers up to 40,000 produced U-2s are called). But this is not confirmed in Soviet sources, which estimate the production of U-2 at approximately 33,000 machines
