Messerschmitt Bf 109 was called the Me 109R, suggesting it was just another variant of the standard fighter, but in fact it was a racing aircraft having little in common with the Bf 109. It was powered by the DB 601ARJ, producing 1,156 kW (1,550 hp), but capable of reaching 1,715 kW (2,300 hp). This world record for a piston-engined aircraft was to stand until 1969, when Darryl Greenamyer's modified Grumman F8F Bearcat, "Conquest I", broke it with a 777 km/h (483 mph) record speed. When the Bf 109 was designed in 1934, by a team led by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser,
Messerschmitt Bf 109 ace in the North African Campaign, who achieved 158 aerial victories. It was also flown by several other aces from Germany's allies, notably the Finn Ilmari Juutilainen, the highest scoring non-German ace on the type, and pilots from Italy, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary. Through constant development, the Bf 109 remained competitive with the latest Allied fighter aircraft until the end of the war. By the end of the war, a significant fraction of Bf 109 production originated in concentration camps, including Flossenbürg, Mauthausen-Gusen, and Buchenwald. During 1933, the "Technisches Amt" (C-Amt), the technical department of the "Reichsluftfahrtministerium" (RLM) ("Reich