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 variants armament was mixed: "Oberst" Adolf Galland criticised the light armament as inadequate for the average pilot, while "Major" Walter Oesau preferred to fly a Bf 109 E, and "Oberst" Werner Mölders saw the single centreline "Motorkanone" gun as an improvement. With the early tail unit problems out of the way, pilots generally agreed that the F series was the best-handling of all the Bf 109 series. Mölders flew one of the first operational Bf 109 F-1s over England from early October 1940; he may well have been credited with shooting down eight Hurricanes and four Spitfires while flying "W.No 5628",