Work began on producing a successor to the Bf 110 in 1937, however, the resulting Me 210 proved to be unsatisfactory, leading to production being halted in April 1942.

During late 1942, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) were sufficiently convinced by the programme to proceed with quantity production of the type, the first Me 410s being delivered during January 1943.

From mid-1944, all Me 410s were withdrawn from Defence of the Reich duties and production was phased out in favour of heavily armed single-engine fighters as dedicated bomber destroyers.

Development of this aircraft had been projected back in 1937 as a multi-purpose successor to the Bf 110, which had some identified shortcomings even prior to seeing combat service.

[7][8] Various modifications to the design were explored, including the Me 310, a radical high-altitude derivative that incorporated a pressurised cockpit and more powerful engines.

[citation needed] The more powerful engines also improved payload capability to the point where the aircraft could lift a war-load greater than could fit into the bomb bay under the nose.

As with the Me 210, the Me 410's rear gunner used the same pair of Ferngerichtete Drehringseitenlafette FDSL 131/1B turrets mounted on each side of the aircraft, each still armed with a 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine gun, retaining the same pivoting handgun-style grip, trigger and gunsight to aim and fire the ordnance as the Me 210 did.

[citation needed] While the Me 410 came to be regarded as a relatively stable aircraft, it had a poorer rate of turn than the Bf 110 it was intended to replace.

[12] The wing panels of the earlier Me 210 had been designed with a planform geometry that placed the aerodynamic center farther back compared with the earlier Bf 110, giving the outer sections of the wing planform beyond each engine nacelle a slightly greater, 12.6° leading edge sweepback angle than the inner panels' 6.0° leading edge sweep angle.

[10] Deliveries of the Me 410 began in January 1943, two years late and continued until September 1944, by which point a total of 1,160 of all versions had been produced by Messerschmitt's facility in Augsburg and Dornier plant in München.

The /U2 suffix designated a fitment of two additional 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in the under-nose ordnance bay instead—the A-1/U4 subtype fitted the massive, 540-kilogram (1,190 lb) Bordkanone series 50 mm (2 in) BK 5 cannon, loaded with 21 rounds in the same under-nose ordnance bay in place of either the /U1's cameras or MK 103s, or the /U2's added pair of MG 151/20 autocannon.

For breaking up the bomber formations, many Me 410s also had four underwing tubular launchers, two per wing panel, firing converted 21 cm (8 in) Werfer-Granate 21 infantry barrage rockets.

However, the Me 410 proved to be no match in a dogfight with the lighter Allied single-engine fighters such as the North American P-51 Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire.

An example of this—as part of a campaign started two days earlier by the USAAF—was on 6 March 1944 during an attack on Berlin by 750 8th AF heavy bombers, when 16 Me 410s were shot down in return for eight B-17 Flying Fortresses and four P-51s (which were destroyed by Bf 109 and Fw 190 fighters escorting the Me 410s).

[17][18] The following month on 11 April, with 8th AF raids hitting Sorau, Rostock and Oschersleben, II./ZG 26's Me 410s accounted for a rare clear success, initially bringing down 10 B-17s without any losses.

The Me 410 B-5 added shackles under the fuselage to carry a torpedo, and removed the MG 131s in the nose to make room for the FuG 200 Hohentwiel 550 MHz UHF-band maritime patrol radar.

It would be powered by the DB 603JZ engines, and had a revised forward fuselage to increase the field of view of the pilot and reduce drag.

Several were built, but like many other attempts at wood construction by the German aviation industry late in World War II, the loss of the Goldschmitt Tego film factory in Wuppertal, in a Royal Air Force night bombing raid, meant the acidic replacement adhesives available were too corrosive to the materials being bonded, and the wooden portions tended to fail.