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 operational history "Maresciallo" (Warrant Officer) Mario Veronesi and "Maresciallo" Dino Forlani, intercepted P-47s from 57° "Fighter Squadron" over Milan and Como. Forlani claimed a P-47 damaged, but the other two Italian fighters were hit and lightly damaged. On 19 April, 1° "Gruppo" "Asso di bastoni" had its last combat, last claim and its last loss. In October 1942, the "Luftwaffe" agreed to partially re-arm Royal Hungarian Air Force fighter units with the Bf 109. Subordinated to the German "Jagdgeschwader" 52 on the Eastern Front, the first Hungarian fighter unit to convert to the Bf 109 F-4 was the RHAF's 1./1. "vadászszázad" (fighter