Messerschmitt Me109 Flying in the Battle of Britain - Personal Essay

When I was in the fifth grade, I went to the Orange County Swap Meet and my parents purchased a picture to go in my room. This picture depicted the Messerschmitt Me109 flying in the Battle of Britain. Since then I always wanted to know more about the Messerschmitt that hung on my wall. I knew that the Messerschmitt Me109 was a German plane that flew in World War II. When I learned about the 1999 History Day projects theme, I was immediately inspired by the picture on my wall.

The topic I chose relates to the 1999 History Day theme because the Messerschmitt airplanes were designed and created by another country and had an amazing effect on the world. Just like the microscopes' and telescopes' imapct on science and astronomy, the Messerschmitt was produced by the Germans and effected the world by changing combat aircraft designs. It provided the world with the first fighter jet and rocket-propelled aircraft.

In order to collect research for the project, I went online to look for web sites and articles that told about Messerschmitt planes. To my surprise, there were many sites dedicated to these aircraft. Most of the sites I found focused primarily on one model of the plane so I had to search further to find other information about the Messerschmitt models included in my project. Once I found them, I began to research songs from that era to incorporate into my project. In order to get pictures, I went to all types of aircaft sites, found what I liked and saved them. While searching other sites, I located a Bf109 movie. I sent an email to the webmaster of that site in hopes that he would provide me with the video. As it turns out, the man's name was Matt McBole, and he is an avid Messerschmitt aircraft expert. Matt's movie clip